


The Girl in Red

by EtherianFrigatebird



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/F, Fanart, Hurt/Comfort, Not really a slow burn. More of a medium light roast., Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21679486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtherianFrigatebird/pseuds/EtherianFrigatebird
Summary: There are so many things that don’t add up about upperclassman Adora Beckett. Like how on the day they met, it was far below freezing and she ordered an iced cold brew. Then there’s her pantry full of peanut butter. All the meanwhile, a dark mystery is brewing in Bright Moon...This was going to be a fun spring semester for Glimmer Kato. Modern College / Barista / Werewolf AU.
Relationships: Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Backgroud Perfuma/Scorpia
Comments: 83
Kudos: 245





	1. Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> In American History, Glimmer and Adora learn that Scorpia threw the first brick.
> 
> Yeah this is a nuts idea I had - let’s combine like three great AUs into one. Except there’s nothing romantic about being a customer service worker or a college student. Yes, I’m keeping characters names. Nobody in this universe acknowledges how strange other people’s names are. Bare with me. If you’re here for some really edgy shit, sorry. This fic won’t get too edgy. 2020 is the year we make werewolves cute. I really want this to be a fic that feels good.
> 
> This is occurring in the fictional college town of Bright Moon, Maine. Why did I choose Maine? I don’t know, maybe because I want to go there one day. If I get some things wrong about the weather, I'm sorry. I'm from the midwest. Also, yes. Catra is an actual, regular cat. Be mad at me in the comments.
> 
> I'll tag warnings and mention them at the beginning of chapters. Some chapters will have mild sexual content (nothing explicit or mature). Some will have graphic depictions of violence.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new semester starts with Glimmer being unable to function around the cute girl in her American History. Good thing they have something in common. Maybe this is a start of a new friendship? Glimmer wonders how Adora likes her coffee.

It was hard for Glimmer to believe it was the start of the spring semester, seeing a light flurry of snowflakes had arrived. The cold wasn’t incredibly bitter like it had been over Winter Break, yet it was still miserable walking between the dorms and the campus. Glimmer sank into her seat in the now relatively crowded lecture room. She refused to escape her wool lined coat, still feeling herself flushing.

Winter break was uneventful and the same as it had been for the past decade of her life. Her mother, aunt and her would eat dinner with her friend, Bow, and his family. It saved her from a potentially miserable, silent dinner with her minuscule family. Her father’s passing left a gap between the three… that, and another reason.

Angella handled Glimmer coming out alright. She wasn’t angry, she wasn’t happy, not even worried it would ruin her reputation as president of the University of Bright Moon. It was just something her mother never questioned her about. Glimmer was sure if she was straight, her mother would be asking if she was seeing anyone. However, her mother had never queried into her love life. Frankly, it was disappointing.

All her mother would ask about was how university was going. She was sure the last time they talked about anything besides university, work, or her friend Bow was when she got a second cartilage piercing - which mildly upset Angella.

_“Glimmer, what if you can’t get a job in the future because of all those piercings?”_

_“Mom, nobody cares about that anymore.”_

_“Well, I do!”_

Glimmer still appreciated her mother. Despite having a job, her mother helped with expenses. She even somehow got Glimmer her very own dorm room at the University - knowing full well Glimmer didn’t like interacting with strangers.

It was Sophomore year. At this point in her life, Glimmer only had two relationships - both with girls in high school, both last only three months each. She was too timid to initiate anything. All she had was Bow and their odd group of friends. Yeah, they were mostly girls, but Glimmer couldn’t really see herself dating any of them.

Maybe this would be the semester she would meet someone. All she knew was that she would have to make the move, somehow.

She flinched at the sight of someone settling their things next to her.

Glimmer’s eyes practically sparkled while looking at the girl.

Her physique was lean, you could tell she was someone that worked out regularly. Most of her blonde hair was tucked into a long ponytail that spilled over her shoulders. The sides of her head were buzzed into an undercut. Piercing blue eyes exchanged with lavender ones for a moment. The eye contact was almost too long.

She couldn’t help but notice the girl wore was a pair of jeans, a tan sweater, and a varsity jacket - not entirely suitable for the snowy conditions outside. Her blue eyes darted towards Glimmer’s bag before smiling at Glimmer.

“It’s cold out there, huh?” the strange girl spoke, almost surprising Glimmer.

“Oh… yeah…”

As the girl sat down, Glimmer suddenly remembered what was on her messenger bag; a collection of pins, including a pin of their university logo with the pride colors.

_… Is that why she smiled...?_

“I like that pin - the pride one. Where did you get it?”

She radiated such a bright, friendly energy. It was comforting how she spoke in a low-tone, as if she was aware that the two were likely surrounded by heterosexuals. Glimmer sat up in her seat, smiling back at the girl.

“I can get you one for free. My friend’s dads have a bunch, they work over in the library.”

“Really? Wow, I’d appreciate it!”

To Glimmer, it felt nice knowing someone was LGBTQ+. Not so much that she wanted to find a girlfriend, but she felt comfort around other LGBTQ+ people - particularly other women who loved women. She was sure the girl felt the same about it.

“What’s your name?” Glimmer asked.

“Adora. Yours?”

_Adora. What a cute name!_

“Glimmer.”

“Glimmer? What a pretty name!”

_Oh._

Glimmer was sure her cheeks were stained red. She wasn’t too sure, seeing she was still warming up and couldn’t feel her face.

“Oh, um… thanks. I like your name too.”

Neither had even noticed the professor had walked in. This would be an interesting American History class.

* * *

Glimmer sighed, looking out into an empty cafe.

_Why do I need this job again?_

Right. Her mother wanted her to work. Actually, forced her into getting a job. Going as far to drop her off alone at the food handler’s class and telling her to walk back home if she didn’t want the job.

_“It’s good experience”, my ass, you stupid boomer._

Her coworker went to the bathroom thirty minutes ago. Thirty. Fucking. Minutes. Ago. The restroom was right down the hall. She was sure Mermista was toilet sexting.

It was 8pm on a Tuesday - _who wanted coffee this time of day?_ It was only thirty more minutes till close. Glimmer could make it. It was painfully slow, as the light snow continued to fall outside.

The bell to the cafe entrance rang. Glimmer looked over, seeing a new customer. Her eyes lit up.

“Oh! Adora! Hi!”

Glimmer had the dumbest smile on her face. She just met this girl a few hours ago, why was she acting so abashed? Even though it was snowing, she still had the same outfit on. She flashed an endearing smile at Glimmer as the door shut behind her.

“Hey! I knew you worked here. I thought I recognized you from somewhere,” Adora beamed.

Glimmer had never really paid much attention to customers. Sure, she would freeze up every once and awhile when a cute girl came to the counter. Now that Adora brought it up, she remembered seeing Adora before. She would come in every once and awhile - although Glimmer was blanking on what she usually got.

“Though, I didn’t want to bring it up. I get it, I work in customer service too.”

“You do? Where do you work?”

“The Thaymor Food Market down the street… It’s alright. Mostly just students and professors from here,” Adora rubbed the back of her back.

“Yeah, this job isn’t _too_ stressful either…"

Glimmer paused, thinking a moment.

"Hey! Whatever you want, it's on me!"

Adora looked bewildered at the proposal, "No, you don't have to buy me anything, Glimmer."

"I get a free drink every shift, it's no big deal. Now, come on - tell me what you want."

"Aw… First you're getting that pin for me, and now you're offering me coffee? What’s next? A date?"

Glimmer almost choked, seeing as she forgot how to breathe for a moment. Warm red blanketed her face. She had to be smooth, she had to make a comeback. _She had to be cool._

"I can rent the Uhaul."

That got a big laugh out of Adora. She had a cute laugh. It was by no means conventionally attractive, seeing she followed it up with a snort. This moment felt nice. She just met this girl today, yet she radiated such warmth. Even if by some weird chance this girl wasn’t gay, she’d love to be her friend. It had been awhile since she had made a new friend.

“Tell you what. I’ll take a cold brew for now, and I’ll make things up to you. I promise.”

_She wants a cold brew, even though it’s zero degrees outside. She has to be gay._

“Any cream, sugar, or vanilla?”

“Nah.”

_No? Who the fuck drinks straight up cold brew?_

Glimmer turned around, grabbing the cold brew concentrate from the mini-fridge. She was alone in this cafe with this girl that was 101% gay, all while her stupid coworker toilet sexted.

Maybe this job was okay.

After diffusing the concentrate in water and ice, she put a lid on it. Glimmer turned around and gave it to Adora, smiling up at her.

“Here’s your cold brew!”

Adora stuffed a straw in the cup, still standing at the counter.

“You doing anything tonight, Glimmer?” Adora asked before taking a sip of her coffee.

“Ah, not really. Just relaxing probably. I’m sure the both of us will be piled with homework in a week. How about you?”

“I was thinking the same thing. I have to get up at 5 tomorrow morning for work,” Adora’s smirk continued.

“Oh, ew. I’m sorry.”

Adora leaned forward, placing her elbows on the counter. It was as if she was trying to put herself at eye level with Glimmer. After all, there was a considerable height difference between the two.

“Nah, I’m used to it. Tell me, what are you majoring in? I ask like everybody I meet here.”

“I’m majoring in history, though I’m not sure what I want to be yet. Maybe a professor or an archivist? There’s a lot of things I can do with a history degree.”

Adora rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

“A historian? You must be smart,” Adora seemed intrigued.

“Not really. I just know a lot of useless facts. How about you? What do you plan on doing?”

“Oh… Physical therapy. Not as exciting as your major. Kind of a corny reason but I just always wanted to help people, and I feel like I can do that with physical therapy.”

Something pinged in Glimmer’s heart. Adora seemed so down to earth and genuine. This girl was so cool and she didn’t even realize it.

“That’s… really nice?” she placed her hand on the counter, leaning slightly over, “I just chose history because I like it.”

“I mean, that’s okay! I like exercising, and teaching people how to exercise for a living sounds great!”

Adora’s eyes lit up as she spoke. Glimmer could tell it was something she was passionate about. Adora shifted, placing both her arms on the counter.

“Hey! You work tomorrow?” Adora questioned.

“Yeah, why?”

Adora shifted on her feet, as if she was nervous.

“Well, I was thinking… I think we’ll have a reading tomorrow. I’ve never been super good with history, and maybe it’d be nice to have someone to review the material with? You can always say no.”

Adora’s smile was gone. How could she say no?

“Of course! We can just review out in the dorm commons after I close. I think that will work out nice,” Glimmer paused for a moment, before saying, “Let’s exchange numbers in case something pops up for either of us.”

“Awesome!”

Little did Glimmer know how drastically her life would change that semester.


	2. Buttercup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer can't look into those slate blue eyes anymore without something sparking. Being around Adora is becoming electrifying. Shit, they just met last week.

“So, let me get this straight… You just met this girl, and you’re planning on studying with her?”

Bow Crawford had been Glimmer’s best friend since they were kids. He knew she struggled with connecting with others, and was proud when she befriended others. Glimmer would admit, this was a huge step for her.

Just like every Saturday, the two walked around downtown Bright Moon. They would usually spend most of the day hanging out downtown, catching up and grabbing something to eat.

It had been this way since they started university. Bow worked as tech support for the college when he wasn’t in class. The two had the weekends off, and every other Sunday would spend the day with their parents. Some weekends, they’d help their friend, Seahawk, at his taco-seafood fusion food truck. 

It was a little warmer that day. No snow was falling, but the two were comfortably bundled up. Walking was better than scraping ice off Bow’s car for ten minutes. Besides, snow was cleared from the sidewalks, making it a pleasant walk.

“I know! It was weird how quick we connected. Oh, your dads still have those pride pins, right?” Glimmer crossed her arms as a gust of wind blew on them.

“Oh, yeah. Why?”

“She asked for one,” Glimmer quite proudly exclaimed.

Bow smiled at her, “You think she’s gay?”

“Oh, Bow. She ordered a cold brew when it was snowing.”

“Definitely gay.”

* * *

It was one of those awkward dinners with her mother. The kind where the two eat takeout pho as her mother attempts to relate to her. Pho made her home visits a little more tolerable.

_Buzz, buzz._

Glimmer glanced at her phone on the table, reading who the sender was.

> _“Adora Beckett”_

She nearly choked on the jalapeño in her mouth. Her mother glared at her, as she quickly grabbed her phone. Glimmer nervously laughed and smile.

“Hold on mom, it’s a classmate,” she excused herself.

“Do you already have a group project?” Angella questioned, a bit put off.

Glimmer opened the text, ignoring her mother for a moment.

> _“Hey are we still meeting up tomorrow after you get off? 8:30, right?”_

She debates whether to reply immediately or wait a few minutes. She didn’t want to seem like she was hovering over her phone, waiting for the exact moment Adora texted her. Maybe she was overthinking things.

She went ahead and typed.

> _“Yeah, can’t wait :)”_

_Holy fuck Glimmer, too weird._ She backspaced. Why did she even type that?

> _“Right! I’ll see you then :)”_

_Ok. Much better._

“How do you like your classes so far?” Angella inquired, trying to grab her daughter’s attention.

> _“Yeah see ya :)”_

Glimmer smiled at her mom, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Yeah… I think I’ll like this semester.”

* * *

Mermista called out sick, leaving Glimmer to close with her boss. Her boss was a brutally muscular woman named Huntara. She could be scary when she was mad, but Glimmer had yet to piss her off thankfully.

Adora waited for Glimmer outside. As always, the girl was only in her varsity jacket - seeming to be perfectly fine in the below freezing weather.

“Hey, Glimmer!” Adora beamed a smile.

Huntara turned around after locking the cafe. She looked at Adora, eyeing her down before remembering where she had seen the girl before.

“Wait, I know you!” Huntara butted in before Glimmer could even speak to Adora, “You’re the girl that benches 225 pounds at the gym! How do you do that with those scrawny arms?!”

Glimmer blushed for a moment. Adora was fit, but was she _that_ strong? She always had a thing for muscular women, but this was a brand new level.

“Who? Me? You must be mixing me up for someone else,” Adora seemed a bit tense, as if she was hiding something.

“Hm… no. Definitely you. I have to say, I’m quite jealous. How do you do it?” Huntara questioned as she crossed her arms.

Adora knew she was cornered. Glimmer eyes went back and forth between the two as Adora was glared down. Adora let out a sigh, putting her hands up.

“Alright, you caught me,” Adora rubbed her arm, “I just… you know... I do a lot of stretches before I bench.”

Huntara glared at Adora, as she nervously bit her lip.

“... Hm. I’ll have to try that. You ladies have a good day.”

Her boss walked away, leaving her alone with Adora. The two looked at each other, giving brief smiles.

Glimmer nervously laughed, “Sorry. My boss can be… intrusive, at times.”

Adora appeared to ease as she spoke, “You don’t have to apologize.”

As they stood, they could see each other’s breath. It was pretty cold, encouraging Glimmer to grab her gloves from her pocket. She found it strange that Adora seemed perfectly fine with the freezing conditions, lacking gloves, a hat, or really anything beyond her jacket. Adora’s cheeks were flushed, yet her skin looked vibrant.

Maybe she had lived somewhere much colder than the little coastal town of Bright Moon. Further inland, it got way colder, so maybe Adora was from there.

“Let’s hurry up, it’s freezing!” Glimmer said as she crossed her arms.

They began to walk. It wasn’t windy, yet the cold made it hard to walk.

“So you live in the O'Driscoll Hall?” Adora asked.

Most the upperclassmen lived in the O'Driscoll Hall. Yet, Glimmer had a room there since Freshman year thanks to her mother. The rooms were generally bigger and nicer than the other halls. Adora had probably assumed Glimmer was also an upperclassman.

“Yeah!”

“So, you like your roommate?” Adora asked.

“Actually, I have my own room.”

Adora was a bit shocked, “Really?! How?!”

“Oh… it’s… complicated.”

Glimmer didn’t like telling people that her mother was president. She was afraid it may scare people away, knowing how much potential influence she had. To her knowledge, no one else in Bright Moon besides her mother and aunt had the last name Kato - maybe Adora could figure it out.

“Ah,” Adora decided not to press into it, thankfully.

Glimmer spontaneously remembered the reason they started talking in the first place. She reached in her messenger bag pocket, pulling out the pin she promised to Adora, “Oh, um, I got your pin!”

“Right! Thanks!”

She reached out, handing it over to Adora. It was then Glimmer noticed how her hands looked rough, somewhat dry and callused. Of course they were, Adora probably never wore gloves.

They continued their walk. Small talk helped Glimmer forget how cold it was.

* * *

The two sat in the dorm commons. Compared to other colleges, the commons at Bright Moon weren’t as big. Rather, it was a humble room with adequate furnishing and a lit fireplace. There were a few other students in the room, but all were distant from Glimmer and Adora.

They were silent as they read. Adora was a slower reader compared to Glimmer, as she appeared to be a page behind Glimmer. Adora was likely tired, seeing as she had been up since 5 that morning for work. Stocking at a grocery store sounded tedious and rough.

Part of her felt bad for not grabbing her coffee. She would have to remember that for next time.

“No offense, I know this is your major and all… But like early history kinda bores me,” Adora sighed.

Glimmer smiled across the table, “No, I get it. Good thing this is Civil War to present.”

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong, a lot of the later stuff is interesting,” Adora smiled back at Glimmer.

“Hey, we can do this. We can get past this hurdle of straight white men together," Glimmer quipped.

Either it was easy to make Adora laugh, or Glimmer was actually was actually funny. Adora was really cute. It was going to be hard to discuss the reading while giving her eye contact.

* * *

That Thursday had gone swimmingly. Class felt easy since the two had discussed the readings the night before.

The two had classes directly after history, and couldn’t talk to one another after class - merely saying goodbyes and headed their separate ways. It was disappointing, yet Glimmer had Monday to look forward to.

* * *

Buzzing in Glimmer’s pocket caught her attention at work. A stupid smile stretched across her face, as she read it was from Adora.

> _“Hate to do this to you but I cant read with you tonight. Sorry for the short notice just feeling really under the weather.”_

She wouldn’t lie. She felt disappointed. It was a long Monday, and she really looked forward to studying with Adora.

> _“Aw ok 😔 will you be in class tomorrow?”_

It took awhile for Adora to reply back;

> _“Not sure. We’ll see.”_

* * *

Glimmer was disappointed again when Adora never showed to history class. Part of her expected Adora to run in late. Despite her disappointment, she took the best notes she had ever taken in a class.

After class, she texted Adora.

> _“Hey Im going to copy my notes for you. I hope youre feeling better.”_

It wasn’t until much later that day she got a text back.

> _“Thank you so much. We can meet up tomorrow, I’ll feel better then.”_

At least she had something to look forward to.

* * *

Adora looked… rough.

There were obvious bags under her dry, swollen eyes. She had obviously had a long day - or quite possibly, a long week. Despite this, Adora had shown up to study with Glimmer that Wednesday.

They didn’t know each other well enough for Glimmer to pry.

Adora’s aura mildly changed once she laid eyes on Glimmer. A faint smile crossed her lips.

“Hey,” Adora spoke lower than usual.

“Hey!” Glimmer almost asked Adora if she was feeling better, but it was apparent she wasn’t.

Her hands were freezing already… particularly since she held Adora’s favorite.

“I figured you’d be tired. You had a long day, huh? I made you a cold brew!” Glimmer beamed up at the taller girl.

It was like whatever was bothering her had magically disappeared. There they stood alone, underneath the streetlamp. Glimmer enjoyed their moments alone. The world felt like it was moving a little slower. Fingers brushed together as she handed over the cold brew to Adora. Warmth radiated from Adora in that moment.

Her weak smile grew bigger. Something about making this girl happy made Glimmer forget all the disappointment she had felt. 

“Thank you…” Adora tenderly spoke.

Adora brought a hand to Glimmer’s shoulder, startling her. Slate blue eyes looked into lavender ones, and the world suddenly stopped. Something had sparked inside Glimmer upon their mutual gaze. The moment almost felt like it had been going on for an awkward amount of time, yet it had really only lasted a few seconds or so.

Her heart was fluttering, her stomach was in knots. It was in that odd silence Glimmer confronted her feelings.

_I… have a big, fat, stupid crush on this girl.  
_

And then Adora said something… strange.

“You’re too good to me, you know?" her smile faded as she monotoned, "You should really be careful."

Glimmer was taken aback. _What a cryptic thing to say. What does that mean? I should be “careful”?_ Was she… warning Glimmer? Warning her from what? Warning her about Adora herself? Adora seemed like a good person. Not someone who was into shady things like drugs or pyramid schemes. If she smoked weed, that was alright with Glimmer. The pyramid scheme thing, not so much.

Before Glimmer could ask Adora to elaborate, she spoke again, “Hey, listen. I promise I’ll make things up to you, Glimmer. It wasn't cool standing you up the other day."

It was in that moment Glimmer thought of something else. Valentine’s Day was next week.


	3. She

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer thought she would be okay admiring Adora from afar. That's a load of bullshit. Oh yeah, and Valentine's is coming up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO CHILDREN!!! I am sorry for the MAJOR delay. I had finals, and also I've been with my gf the past two weeks. She graduated college, I’m very proud of her!! But in her wise, drunk as hell words; “You better meet the quota for those Glimadora fans!” So here I am!!! I tried to split this chapter into two chapters but it flowed weird. So enjoy an extra EXTRA long chapter!!
> 
> Warning: there are sexual references in this chapter. Nothing horribly explicit.
> 
> ALSO. Enjoy some art I made for this chapter! I'll post it at the end but also a [Tumblr link!](https://etherian-frigatebird.tumblr.com/post/189876259289/wow-some-gfs-pst-read-my-fic-on-ao3-girl-in)

Racing thoughts invaded Glimmer’s mind. She had never seriously gotten someone anything for Valentine’s. Sure, her and Bow would go out the day after and buy discounted chocolates - but that was different.

Did Adora like chocolate? She assumed not, since she didn’t like anything sweet in her coffee. Plus, she seemed like she had a healthy, fit lifestyle. She wanted to her _something_. Then again, Glimmer had only met this girl three weeks ago.

Part of her debated in even getting Adora anything. Besides, Valentines was just a stupid holiday invented by their hyper capitalist society. But damn, it would be horrible if Adora got her something and Glimmer got her nothing.

Glimmer was talented when it came to working while dealing with intrusive thoughts. The two sat in the commons, finished with their work for the day.

“Wow, I just noticed your Joylene pin," Adora remarked, "You like Jojo?"

She didn’t take Adora as someone that enjoyed manga. Adora seemed a little too cool and physically active for that.

"No, I just have a pin of this anime girl that I don't know,” Glimmer joked.

Adora laughs, "When did you become a smartass?"

"Maybe I’ve always been one… I didn't take you as someone that likes anime… You have _mad_ jock vibes.”

"You think I’m a jock?” Adora was a bit surprised, “Well, I was on the volleyball team in high school for awhile.”

"What high school did you go to?" Glimmer asked.

"Oh! Horde Central.”

Horde Central had a bad reputation in Bright Moon. It was strict and uptight, and the students were like soldiers. Most people in the college from Horde Central were either uptight or partiers. Adora didn’t fit into either category.

"Horde Central? How was that?” Glimmer asked, feeling afraid for Adora.

“Eh, it wasn’t so horrible. I got in a fight Sophomore year, totally kicked the guy’s ass. Nobody messed with me after that,” Adora cockily bragged.

She beat the shit out of someone? Thankfully she did it before it would be written on her criminal record. Glimmer had to stop herself from sighing because of how dreamy and accidentally badass this girl was.

“Oh how rude of me!” Adora noted, “I should ask where you went.”

“Bright Moon Public. I didn’t get into any fights, sadly,” Glimmer joked.

“Ooh, fancy,” Adora teased.

Suddenly, Adora looked down at her phone. She shifted in her seat, swiftly grabbing her bag.

“Jeez, hey, I’m really sorry, I really need to get back to my dorm. My cat has been alone almost all day, I’m sure she’s—”

Glimmer interrupted with, “Wait, pass that by me again?” as she was sure she just heard her say “cat”.

Adora looked around, noting nobody was within earshot of them. She slightly leaned over the table, with a sly smirk plastered on her face.

“I’ll let you in a secret… I’ve managed to keep my cat here without getting caught,” Adora whispered her confession.

Lavender eyes grew wide with worry. Pets were strictly forbidden at Bright Moon. It could result in Adora possibly getting kicked out the dorms. This was a dangerous game Adora was playing.

“Adora! You have a cat—”

Adora shushed Glimmer, anxiously looking around once more.

“Sh! Someone might hear us! Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this in the commons. I don’t want the wrong person hearing about this,” Adora said, completely unaware of Glimmer’s status.

Glimmer smirked, reflecting the same pride Adora had earlier. Adora would likely find out eventually, so why not tell her at that moment?

“Since we’re exchanging secrets… I have a question for you. Do you, perchance, know the name of the university president?” Glimmer pretentiously spoke.

“Uh…” Adora placed her hand on her cheek as she thought aloud, “Am I supposed to?”

“Hm,” Glimmer hummed,” No, I was just wondering…”

Adora was put off by her haughty smirk, “But… why?”

“Oh, no reason,” Glimmer folded her hands on the table, “Her name is Doctor Angella Kato.”

Adora took a moment before remembering Glimmer’s last name - as it was saved on her phone. Shock took over her as her eyes grew wide. Slowly, she took her hand away from her cheek.

“A-Are you saying… your mother is the university p-president?” Adora stammered on her words.

“Yeah—”

Out of nowhere, Adora cupped her hands around Glimmer’s, causing her cocky demeanor to fall apart. The touch caused a spark, forcing Glimmer to blush.

“Glimmer, please don’t tell anyone. Catra is so important to me,” Adora’s eyes shifted down as she stroked Glimmer’s hand with her thumb, “She’s… all I got.”

Yet again, Adora had said something enigmatic. Few words, nonetheless they had a strong impact. Her cat was _all she had_. Glimmer couldn’t help but begin to think what that meant. Had she been kicked out, disowned, or orphaned? Whatever happened, Adora likely didn’t have a healthy family life… or a family at all.

Glimmer squeezed Adora’s hand, catching her attention as she tenderly murmured, “I won’t. I promise.”

Adora shifted her hands away, breathing a sigh of relief, “Oh, god. Don’t scare me like that again…”

“... I want to see your cat, though.”

* * *

Adora reached into her pocket, pulling out the keys to her dorm. As she opened the door, she smiled as if there was someone inside.

“Oh, hi Scorpia! You’re back early,” Adora greeted.

Adora held the door open for Glimmer. Upon walking in, Glimmer saw a muscular girl sitting at a desk. One of her beefy arms had a sleeve tattoo of a scorpion. A calico cat with heterochromatic eyes sat on the girl’s laptop, shifting off of it once she saw Adora.

Glimmer couldn’t help but notice the lack of any family photos on Adora’s side of the room. Scorpia, on the other hand, had a few framed photos of what Glimmer assumed were her moms.

The burly girl spoke, not noticing Glimmer quite yet, “Yeah, I got off work early. Catra here doesn’t want me to do my homework, apparent—”

Scorpia spun around in her office chair midway through talking, finally seeing Glimmer. Oddly her face reddened as she saw Glimmer, appearing to be troubled by her presence.

“God, wait a second, I am _SO_ sorry,” Scorpia was clearly embarrassed, “Did you two want some privacy?”

Lavender eyes widened at the statement as she felt her entire face turn red. The two glanced at one another and she was sure she could make out pink tones tormenting Adora’s face. Both were clearly abashed. Was this something that happened before with Adora?

“That’s… not why she’s here, Scorpia,” Adora sighed, clearly flustered.

Scorpia nervously laughed, “Wow! Sorry to make this so awkward! We should just steer far away from this conversation - I’m Scorpia, I’m Adora’s roommate if you can’t tell.”

“Glimmer. Nice to meet you,” Glimmer wanted to shake her hand or something, yet she found herself immobilized.

She felt a pair of inhospitable eyes on her. The cat sat in front of her, piercing mismatching eyes deep into her soul. Adora bent down, picking up the weird looking cat. She continued to unrelentingly glare at Glimmer.

“And that’s Catra,” Adora said, “She takes awhile to warm up to people. It’ll probably be a few visits until she’ll let you pet her.”

Good, because Glimmer felt terrified at the idea of petting Catra anyways. The air was awkward and tense. She felt bad staying around, as she knew Adora had a long day.

“I-I should be heading out soon,” Glimmer desperately tried to deflect the troublesome situation, “You have a morning class, right?”

“Yeah,” Adora replied, “Wish I could spend more time with you, but I have more homework to do.”

_She… wants to spend more time with me?_ For the second time that night, her thoughts began to race. Could that possibly mean that Adora liked her back? Regardless, Valentine’s was going to be fun this year.

* * *

“Bow, do you think I should get Adora something for Valentine’s?”

The two sat across from each other in a quaint downtown diner. It was long after the two had finished their breakfast, and the two were merely chatting while finishing their coffee. The only others in the diner were old married couples. Imaginably, Bow and her were like an old married couple - except the two were young and not at all attracted to one another.

"I wouldn’t go overboard with whatever you get her. How about a bouquet? You know the nursery Perfuma works at has a florist,” Bow advised.

“That’s actually a really good idea… I don’t know why I didn’t think of that,” Glimmer approved.

After finishing their coffee, they headed to the humble nursery outside downtown Bright Moon. There was a section with pre-made bouquets, ranging in complexity. Something simple would suffice.

Adora made her happy. She was like a ray of sunshine in her life now. Whenever she saw the girl, there was no way to get rid of the stupid smile that crossed her lips. Her heart would skip a beat, and all her bad thoughts would disappear for awhile.

Sunflowers. Adora was a sunflower in her life. She grew quickly and bloomed beautifully in Glimmer’s life.

* * *

Valentine’s morning, Glimmer was heading to the dorm showers. Upon leaving her room, something bright and colorful caught her attention; a bouquet propped against the wall near her door. It was a simple one with sweet peas ranging in tones of violet and periwinkle. A few sprigs of lavender were thrown in, as well.

Glimmer picked up the bouquet, seeing a note tied to it. Even when Adora was trying to be neat with her handwriting, it still looked a little messy.

> _“Glimmer,_
> 
> _I normally hate this corny holiday. Oh god, I shouldn’t be so cynical in this note. This is supposed to be a happy thing. Did we really only meet like three weeks ago? I feel like I’ve known you for so long. I’ll be honest, on the days I don’t see you, I get a little down. Here I am being cynical again!_
> 
> _Anyways. I think we should go on a date or something. Somewhere that isn’t a cafe, because I’m sure you’re tired of coffee. No textbooks. Just us. Let me know what you think. :)_
> 
> _\- Adora”_

Glimmer had _that_ stupid smile, the kind of smile that felt like it would be permanent. There were butterflies in her stomach as she held the bouquet close, able to smell the aroma of the lavender. This was the most heartfelt thing a girl had for her. She panicked for a moment, seeing she had not written anything for Adora. It prompted her to hurry back into her room to her desk. She rummaged through her supplies, finding a notepad. It had, fittingly enough, a lavender-floral design on the banner.

Words flowed out of her onto paper so easily for her.

> _“Adora,_

> _It’s alright to be a little cynical. I hate this corny holiday, too. At least I did, until I got your bouquet. Why did you have to steal my idea?! And yeah, the days I don’t see you feel lousy too.”_

She hesitated to write the next part, feeling it would get a little too sappy and personal. _Screw it._

> _“Things have been looking a little better in my life since I met you. And of course I want to go on a date! How does your Saturday night look?_
> 
> _\- Glimmer ♥”_

That note was going so well until she drew that heart. Was that a little too far? She didn’t really care, seeing there was a tear in her eye. This girl in her history class had made her so happy.

Class would be within the hour. She knew Adora had a morning class. Maybe Adora went to her dorm between classes? Part of her felt flustered at the idea of giving it to her in person, so she chose the coward route. Before getting ready for class, she ran upstairs to Adora’s dorm and propped the bouquet against the door.

Things were going to work out.

* * *

“Glimmer?”

A familiar voice caught her attention as she walked through the campus. That stupid smile plagued her lips as she turned around. Slate blue eyes met with lavender ones in an all too familiar way. Adora stood not too far away. For a moment, the world went still and silent.

Her name practically burst from Glimmer, “Adora!”

It was getting hard to remember how to breathe or even function around Adora. Even way she smiled at Glimmer - a mundane, easy-going smirk that would eventually evolve into a bright, bighearted one - it made Glimmer’s thoughts frantically pace. _Why… why do I always feel like this around her?_

Then Adora brought her into a hug.

A hug that made it feel like they were the only ones in the world. Heartfelt and literal warmth surrounded Glimmer. In all truthfulness, it kind of freaked Glimmer out how unnaturally warm Adora was. Adora had quirks, but those quirks are what made Glimmer enamored with her. Arms wrapped around a sturdy neck, bringing Adora closer to her.

“Saturday night sounds great,” Adora contentedly breathed.

Feeling her soothing voice reverberating against her felt nice. Perhaps they held their hug too long. However, neither seemed to care - merely enjoying the moment. It was the best feeling in the world knowing she made Adora happy too.

* * *

Saturday came.

And so did a polar vortex.

Tons of snow was dropped onto Bright Moon. It snowed all day, and it looked like it would snow well into the night. Her usual outing with Bow was relegated to merely hanging out at the library. She didn’t want to cancel the date, as she still _really_ wanted to hang out with Adora. She ended up texted her an idea that popped in her head.

> _“Want to just hang out at my dorm tonight? Doesn't look like we’ll be able to go out 😔“_

Eventually, Adora replied;

> _“Anywhere is fine as long as it’s with you 😉 Just tell me what time to be there. I can bring stuff for dinner, too.”_

She nearly dropped her phone upon reading the text. _What the fuck? A wink emoji?_ It was starting to feel like this girl was purposely teasing her, or was just completely oblivious to the effect of her words.

Bow cocked an eyebrow at her, “Everything okay over there?”

“I think. I’m not sure. Adora wants to come over to my dorm tonight,” Glimmer’s voice faltered.

“... Want me to help clean?”

“Please, god.”

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock._

Panic spread through Glimmer. Up until half an hour ago, Bow had been in her dorm helping her clean and stay calm. This was just supposed to be a casual date of her and Adora hanging out in her dorm while they ate dinner. However, she found herself pacing and checking herself in the mirror at least sixty times.

Ultimately, she felt confident in her looks. With her lavender flannel tucked into her high rise jeans, she felt she looked nice. Glimmer even took the liberty of shaving her legs… You know, just in case.

She took a deep breath before opening the door. _Here goes nothing._

_Oh. My god._

Adora was so pretty with her hair down tossed over her shoulder. She was pretty _regardless_ , but Glimmer never imagine how nice she would look with her hair out of her ponytail. The way her dirty blonde hair shined in the light was enamoring. Her signature varsity jacket was missing, as she wore a mutely tan cable-knit sweater.

It was as if the two forgot how to speak for a moment.

“You look nice.”

Both flinched as they realized they said the exact same thing. Nervous laughs sang from both.

Adora held out a paper bag, “Lucky you, we had bok choy!”

“T-Thanks for getting that,” Glimmer smiled as she grabbed it from Adora.

There was another moment of silence, allowing the two to stare at each other for a moment.

Adora’s eyebrows perked up, “Heh… You want to let me in?”

“Oh, s-sorry, yeah!” Glimmer scooted out of the way, letting Adora in.

Slate blue eyes danced around the room, observing how different it was from her own dorm. The university took one of the beds out, so Glimmer had a couch in its place. It would have been useful to know Adora when she and Bow were moving that couch into the dorm. The aroma of ginger filled the humble dorm.

“Whatever you’re making smells nice!” Adora complimented.

Glimmer moved to her counter, placing the paper bag on it, “Thanks. It’ll be a couple more minutes…”

A TV was placed on a stand not too far away from the couch. Some pictures in frames were scattered throughout the room. A picture of her father and her sat on a wooden shelf on the wall. It was alongside a peace lily and a wooden carving of an owl her father made for her.

Every once and awhile, she’d make herself tea and put an extra cup on the shelf. Her and her father used to drink tea together all the time, so it felt like a way to honor his memory. It seemed Adora didn’t realize the implications of the tiny memorial as her eyes darted to a pride flag tapestry that hung above her couch.

“Your dorm is neat,” Adora commented, before pointing to the tapestry, “Did you make that?”

Adora’s question grabbed her attention away from the groceries, “Y-Yeah,” Glimmer stuttered, feeling jittery, “I’m not great at knitting, I just enjoy doing it.”

“What?!” Adora was shocked, “Well, I think it’s great! Why did you never tell me you knew how to knit?”

Glimmer shrugged her shoulders, “It never came up?”

Adora cocked an eyebrow as she crossed her arms and said, “I bet you knitted that scarf you wear all the time too.”

Bashfully, she smiled as she murmured, “Yeah…”

“Maybe I have a lot more to learn about you,” Adora slyly smirked, “What are you making, anyway?”

“Have you ever had like _real_ ramen?” Glimmer asked.

Normally, at least once a month, she would make ramen for her, Bow, and their friends. They had yet to meet up that February, so she had chicken wings and frozen ramen noodles in the freezer. It was hard knowing how to scale down the recipe, since it was her father who taught her how to make it.

She was hoping Adora would like it. Long before Adora arrived, she simmered broth that consisted of the chicken wings and ginger. She had already drained the broth, leaving it clear and ready for vegetables.

“I’ve just had the instant stuff. I’m not a great cook, but you clearly know what you’re doing,” Adora praised.

“No… I just learnt from my dad,” Glimmer’s smile faded as she spoke.

The air was tense. Maybe Adora had caught on already that Glimmer’s father was gone. She was sure neither of them wanted to open their wounds around each other quite yet. This relationship was a positive thing in Glimmer’s life, and she didn’t want to ruin that.

Adora broke the tension between them, “Can I help?”

“You could help me with the vegetables,” Glimmer suggested, “Like wash them off while I cut them.”

“O-Oh, sure!”

Glimmer had pulled out the various ingredients from the bag; a sprig of cilantro, some shiitake mushrooms, baby bok choy, and green onions. She handed over the cilantro, letting Adora quickly wash it off.

“Was work alright today?” Glimmer asked.

“We had a few call-ins, but it was really slow… So, it was alright,” Adora looked up from the sink as she handed the washed cilantro over, “Sorry we couldn’t go downtown. But I’m alright with hanging out in your dorm.”

“Hey, I don’t mind!” Glimmer drifted her eyes down to the cutting board before her.

Cooking with someone you like was oddly nice. At the time, Glimmer could not put a finger on the sensation. Upon thinking about it later, she thought of a word; domestic. She never thought about how nice it would feel to cook with someone you like.

She kind of spaced out for a minute while sorting her emotions, not really paying attention as she minced cilantro. In the spur of her distracted thoughts, she accidentally pressed the knife into her index finger. It did not go into too deeply, although it was enough to immediately draw blood.

“Shit!” Glimmer cursed.

Thankfully, the cut wasn’t too deep, yet a substantial amount of blood was coming out. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Adora looking at her.

“Did you cut yourself?” Adora asked.

“Yeah…” Glimmer winced as she looked over at Adora.

Oddly, Adora’s pupils had contracted. Her eyes were dead-set on Glimmer’s finger.

“You have b-bandages? I can grab you one,” Adora asked, her voice sounding a bit nervous.

“Oh, um… I should have a few in the second drawer of my desk,” Glimmer said.

Adora was acting a little strange. Granted, she acted strange overall yet this was new. She ran almost too quickly to get the bandage. As Adora scurried back, Glimmer washed her finger off in the sink. A hearty stream of blood entered the sink and it was apparent the sight appeared to made Adora more fidgety. As she fumbled to open the wrapper the bandage was in, Glimmer noticed her callused fingers shivering slightly.

Glimmer patted the wound dry as she asked, “Hey, are you queasy around blood?”

“Oh, a little. Don’t worry, I won’t vomit or anything,” Adora cleared her throat.

“You sure? You don’t look too good,” Glimmer noted.

Color was draining from Adora’s face. Glimmer felt more concern for Adora than her finger at that rate. 

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine” Adora spat out, “Let’s get this bandage on you.”

Reluctantly, she held her hand out to Adora who in turn strongly gripped her wrist. Almost too strongly, in fact. Glimmer was starting to learn that Adora was exceedingly stubborn. There she was, trudging out her obvious queasiness to help Glimmer. It was kind of sweet, yet it ultimately concerned Glimmer. 

She could feel the slight tremble in Adora’s hand. Emphatically, she looked up at Adora as she wrapped a bandage around Glimmer’s finger.

“Thank you, Adora,” Glimmer lightly spoke, afraid she’d scare the uptight, nerve-wracked girl.

“I-I… You’re welcome.”

After that fiasco, they finished prepping all the vegetables. Glimmer sliced a soft-boiled egg, placing it along with the vegetables and broth on a bed of ramen noodles. Normally her presentation was lacking or she just didn’t care enough. However, she honestly wanted to impress Adora. She even brewed some matcha green tea, pouring two mugs to go along with the ramen.

She set up a small table in her apartment with a tablecloth. Her and Bow debated for a while whether to light a candle in the middle, but the table was rather small. As they sat down, Adora’s eyes brightened at the meal.

“I know I’ll say this like a million times tonight, but thank you,” Adora beamed, “This looks so nice, I can tell you put a lot of effort into this. I… not a lot of people have cooked for me before.”

A lot of things Adora said broke Glimmer’s heart. Withal, the implications of what she had just said was absolutely heartbreaking. She wouldn’t mind cooking everyday for the rest of her life for Adora, if it truthfully meant that much to her. Food had a way of bringing people together. In a way, Glimmer could share a part of her life with Adora.

“Well, I’m glad I could give this to you…” Glimmer paused a moment, “You can go ahead and eat, silly.”

Adora’s eyes widened at the sight of metal chopsticks before her. She opened her mouth to say something, until Glimmer interrupted; “Want me to teach you how to use them?”

“S-Sorry… I have a lot to learn,” Adora rubbed the back of her neck.

“It’s alright!” Glimmer encouraged, showing the chopsticks in her hand, “It’s just like a pencil, see? You’ll want to tuck one in the crook of your thumb. If it’s too hard, I won’t be offended if you need a fork.”

Astoundingly, Adora seemed to get it right off the bat. She easily picked up a piece of bok choy.

Charmingly, Adora seemed nervous as she asked, “Like this?”

“Hey! You got it…” Glimmer veered the subject somewhat, “Um… I’d like to do something I haven’t done in awhile… It’s a little silly, I think.”

“I didn’t know how to use chopsticks, how silly could _you_ possibly be?” Adora comforted her, as she pointed at Glimmer with her chopsticks.

Glimmer laughed, “Well, my dad used to make me say _‘itadakimasu’_ before a meal.”

Adora cocked her head, “Ita-what?”

Glimmer shifted in her chair, pulling it closer to the table, “ _Itadakimasu_. It’s to show gratitude to the food you’re about to eat.”

Adora heartily smiled, “Well, I am very grateful for the food I’m about to eat, so I’ll say it.”

She felt happy at Adora’s reception, “Well then… _itadakimasu_!”

“ _Itadakimasu_! Did I say that right?” Surprisingly, Adora got it pretty close the first time.

“Yeah!” Glimmer nodded.

The two took the first bite, promoting another hearty smile from Adora. 

“This is… amazing! Oh my god,” Adora took another clutch of noodles, “You are an _amazing_ cook!”

Glimmer smiled back, “Thank you.”

There was a brief pause, as Adora looked confused for a moment, “... Wait… are you Japanese?”

Adora could be a little slow to the punch, but this was extra. Sure, she was only half but it was still pretty obvious - the last name Kato in particular was a dead giveaway. Glimmer couldn’t help but giggle a little.

* * *

Adora was half-way done with her second helping by the time Glimmer finished. For someone that was so fit, Adora sure did eat a lot. Her manners were appropriate, yet she still ate fast. That was alright with Glimmer, as she made too much broth anyway. After the two were finished, Adora was kind enough to wash the dishes and put up the leftovers.

“So, what did you want to do now?” Adora asked as she cleaned.

Glimmer moved over to the table in front of her couch. She placed their tea mugs down, before grabbing the remote and turning on the TV.

“Have you ever watched Buzzfeed Unsolved?” she asked before quickly interjecting with, “It’s not like other Buzzfeed stuff, it’s actually entertaining.”

“Didn’t take you as someone who was into true crime,” Adora noted, “And no, I haven’t. It’s like a crime-mystery show or something, right?” Adora asked.

“Yeah, but it’s fun and doesn’t make you depressed afterwards,” Glimmer commented as she sat on the couch.

“Sounds cool! I’ll watch it,” Adora sniffled, seeing the aromatics and warmth of the ramen had gotten to her, “Oh, Glimmer, do you have any tissues?”

“Uh… I think?” Glimmer paused to think, “Check the drawers underneath my bed.”

Subsequently, Adora shut the water off. She shifted over to the bed, bending down to open one of the drawers built into the bed. All of a sudden, something dawned on Glimmer. Yeah, that's where she kept a box of tissues. Unfortunately, it’s also where she kept _other things_.

_No! How did I forget?!_ Panic took over Glimmer. She shifted on the couch, ready to pace over and tackle Adora.

Her plea went in vain, “Wait—”

Within a second of opening it, Adora shut the drawer. A tense silence befell them. It felt like steam was escaping Glimmer’s ears, she was so flustered.

A vanquished groan escaped her throat as she buried her face in her hands, "Oh… my god... I am SO sorry…"

Intense, rowdy laughter suddenly broke the tension. Adora covered her mouth, attempting to stop herself to no avail.

“Glimmer! Holy shit!” Adora choked out between fits of laughter, “Why do you have so many?!”

Glimmer could feel herself easing. It was hard not to laugh along with Adora. Adora fell backwards against the base of Glimmer’s desk, clutching her stomach as she laughed.

“I’m sorry, Glimmer, I can’t…” Adora heaved, “I can’t stop laughing! I just… wasn’t expecting that!” Adora snorted, unable to control herself.

“Uuuuugh… I think… heh,” a giggle slipped out as Glimmer attempted to speak, “Yeah, this is the most embarrassing thing I have ever done to myself.”

“Hey.”

The sudden, serious tone caught Glimmer off guard. She lifted her face from her hands, looking over at Adora. Slate blue eyes looked at her with compelling reassurance.

“I won’t bring it up again if it embarrasses you that much,” Adora consoled, “But… could I please grab that tissue box? I literally have boogers falling out of my nose.”

A rowdy laugh akin to Adora’s from earlier roared from Glimmer, changing her mood entirely. Adora’s aura was relieving, she felt like she could trust her with anything.

“Do it quick, please.”

* * *

Glimmer didn’t mind rewatching Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes for probably the fourth time in her life. This rerun was particularly enjoyable, seeing as she got to hear Adora’s cute, loud laughter.

At some point, Glimmer had brewed another batch of matcha green tea. It was getting colder outside, seeing the snow had started up again. While the dorms were usually nicely heated, the heat struggled to keep up during winter storms and such. It was really starting to get to Glimmer, prompting her to grab a wool blanket from her bed.

Of course, Adora was indifferent towards the dropping temperature in the dorm. She was absolutely fine in her cute cable-knit sweater. Upon reflecting, Glimmer memories were jogged of how warm Adora was when they hugged the other day. Perhaps Glimmer could be warmed up quickly if the two shared the blanket.

With all that in mind, Glimmer still wanted to die at the idea of asking Adora to share the blanket with her. Somehow, she briefly escaped her blanket-burrito in order to quickly reach for her mug. The sight of Glimmer’s delicate fingers shuddering against her mug finally caught Adora’s attention.

“Want me to get under there with you?” Adora asked.

Relief flooded Glimmer as she instantly answered, “Please.”

Adora grabbed the edge of the blanket, pulling it over her shoulders as she scooted closer. Much, _much_ closer. So close, their thighs and arms were touching. That familiar, comforting warmth radiated from Adora. The blanket fell onto Adora’s shoulders as she smiled towards Glimmer.

“Better?” she asked.

She was warming up, alright. For the billionth time that night, her cheeks reddened. She wanted to kick herself for being so awkward around Adora.

“Y-Yeah,” Glimmer smiled back.

_Man, she’d be the perfect girlfriend for me… She loves my cooking, and can be my personal furnace... Wait… Girlfriend? Adora as my girlfriend?_

She accepted she had a big fat crush on Adora. Yet, the idea of them being girlfriends was so foreign. Could that really happen? This beautiful, wonderful girl dating her - just some mediocre schmuck? Her mind raced into a rabbit hole and she could barely focus on the episode they were watching. It was the one where the two hosts went to town in West Virginia that Mothman was supposedly sighted.

“Can I say something weird?” Adora sounded almost disconnected, distracted even.

“Like what?” Glimmer was intrigued.

“... Oh, it’s nothing,” Adora tried to push it away, “You’ll laugh.”

“No, no. I promise, I won’t laugh. Tell me!”

“... Hm… What if… like mothman and all those guys are real? Cryptids, I mean. Do you think they could be real?” Adora was obviously being serious with her question.

Glimmer had never really thought about it in depth. She didn’t think Adora was dumb or silly for thinking that. The world was a mysterious place.

“I mean… It’s easy to say things like that can’t be real. But… we still don’t know everything about the planet…” Glimmer shifted, her eyes glowing with interest, “Like, I used to go camping with my dad a lot. There are endless stretches of forest in Bright Moon. I could totally see something living in the woods here and us not knowing about it.”

Adora’s eyes reflected the same interest in the subject, “I feel the same way. The forests here really do feel endless. Something bad could happen to you and nobody would ever discover you…”

There was a pause between the two. Suddenly, Glimmer blurted, “We should go!”

Glimmer wasn’t scared, especially if she had Adora with her. Christ, she was able to bench press 225 pounds. Adora could probably arm wrestle a bear and win.

“Maybe when it warms up we can go hiking,” Adora suggested.

“Yeah… I’d like that.”

* * *

Towards the end of the night, Adora was particularly silent. To be fair, it had been a long day for her. She had been up since 5 in the morning and had worked a long shift. It was close to midnight when Glimmer felt the weight of Adora's head on her shoulder.

Unintentionally, Adora had fallen asleep. Light snores rumbled against Glimmer’s shoulder. It would be awfully rude to wake her up and kick her out. She had no issue letting her crash on the couch. For awhile, she simply sat and continued to watch videos. She found an odd sense of joy letting Adora sleep on her. Not to mention, her warmth was enjoyable.

Sleepiness soon hit her as well. Carefully, she shifted away from Adora. Glimmer gently guided her down onto the couch, ensuring not to wake her up. She tucked the wool blanket over Adora before looking down at her. Something pinged inside her when she observed Adora smiling. Maybe she was having a nice dream. 

Temptation was overpowering Glimmer, encouraging her to run her fingers along Adora’s hair. The buzz cut felt nice to the touch. Something inside her told her to kiss Adora’s forehead. _Okay, that’s a little creepy, Glimmer. She’s asleep._

She was a coward. Perhaps she would try one day. Eventually, she crawled into her bed. Thoughts of Adora invaded her mind as she eventually gave into slumber.

* * *

It felt like long after she fell asleep, Glimmer was awakened.

"Glimmer.”

Hazy vision greeted her upon waking up. The lights outside illuminated the room somewhat. It was dark in the room still. A strong hand gripped her shoulder with surprising gentleness. Familiar slate blue eyes that stared back at her with sternness. Adora was sitting up on the bed, excessively close to her. Faintly, Glimmer smiled at Adora. The hand on her shoulder reached up, brushing against Glimmer's cheek.

While holding onto her cheek, Adora leaned forward. Lips pressed against Glimmer’s forehead. Butterflies in her stomach went feral, and she brightened. Her heart was about to beat out of her chest while that stupid, stupid smile crossed her lips. Part of her was absolutely sure this was a dream, yet it all felt so real.

Adora murmured something that stopped Glimmer’s heart, "I think… yeah. I _really_ like you.”

Gay note; Glimmer dreamt of Adora before. Many, _many_ times before. That being said, she was certain this wasn’t a dream. Despite her murmuring, Adora’s voice was clear - not faded and quiet like in her other dreams. Callused hands touched her delicately, gently grabbing her chin. Even her touch felt so real - this _had_ to be real.

Adora flashed a suave smile as she whispered, “You really fascinate me, Glimmer Kato. I wonder… maybe I can trust you with my secret.”

Her eyes practically sparkled as she looked up. However, what Adora told her bothered her. _There she goes, saying weird shit again._ At that instant, Adora began to hover _too_ close. The kind of close that made Glimmer lose her breath and her lips quiver.

The quietest, "Adora…" escaped Glimmer’s mouth.

Adora was about to kiss her. _Oh god, Adora is about to kiss me!_ Her mind was racing in a million different directions. Sleepy eyes were locked in on each other, before instinctively closing to enjoy the moment. _Wait, wait, wait! This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't—_

Adora stopped moving forward, promoting Glimmer to open her eyes.

"Jeez, you're a heavy sleeper!”

Suddenly it was morning and Adora was no longer so close to her. Instead, she stood at the side of the bed, gripping onto Glimmer’s shoulder. Glimmer gasped as she shot upwards, spooked by the sudden change. That dream felt so real.

It disappointed Glimmer that it wasn’t real.

“It’s already 9, you think I’d let you sleep in?” Adora smiled down at Glimmer.

Glimmer took a moment to reply, as she was occupied with catching her breath from the weird dream. Her hair was messy, but that wasn’t a concern at the moment.

“That’s right. You fell asleep here,” Glimmer reminded herself aloud.

“Yeah, I’ve been awake since 8 and, you know? I felt awkward just leaving,” Adora admitted, “So I went ahead and made you some breakfast! I hope you don’t mind that I used some of your eggs.”

Sure enough, the aroma of eggs filled the room. Two mugs sat on the table. Alongside them were scrambled eggs and toast. Normally, it took Glimmer awhile to crawl out of bed. Yet, the proposition of breakfast and tea was tempting her. It was endearing how Adora stuck around, choosing to cook breakfast for the both of them.

They sat at the small table Glimmer set up the night before. Both were still in their outfits from yesterday, hair a bit messy from a good night’s rest. She appreciated Adora making her breakfast. Food had a way of bringing people together, of course.

Towards the end of the meal, Adora asked something that caught her off guard. _Really_ off guard.

“Hey, you know you talk in your sleep?”

Glimmer choked on the egg in her throat. Painfully, she swallowed it. Somehow, all of this was unnoticed by Adora.

Adora continued on, “You kept saying my name for some reason, that’s one of the reasons why I woke you up. I thought you needed me or something.”

God, Adora was _painfully_ unaware and naive. Glimmer had no recollection of the dreams previous to the one she had before waking up. Fear flooded her mind as she thought of _what_ she could’ve been dreaming about. Glimmer’s eyes shot around the room, as she thought of a way to deflect the conversation. They shot to the clock, which read 9:26am.

_Wait a minute. It’s Sunday… Fuck._

Every other Sunday, her mother would spend the day with her… starting at 9:30am. It would be awfully painful explaining a girl in her room early in the morning - especially a girl with messy hair, wearing clothes from the night before. She was sure her mother would clutch her pearls and faint upon the sight.

“Oh, hey, look at the time! My mom is _really_ coming soon, like four minutes soon,” Glimmer hastily stammered, ”A-And I don’t think she’d be too fond of a stranger in my room this early in the morning,” 

Adora immediately got up, following with an empathetic, “It’s alright, I get it.”

Hurriedly, Glimmer rushed to the door, opening it for Adora. There was a moment of hesitance on Adora’s part, as if she really didn’t want to leave. That being said, Adora understood the situation.

“Sorry to kick you out. You made me breakfast and everything,” Glimmer weakly smiled.

“Hey, no hard feelings,” Adora emphasized, smiling back and asking, “See you tomorrow night then?”

The thought of seeing Adora again the next day was comforting, “Of course.”

Then something happened.

Something that _really_ caught Glimmer off guard.

The feeling of Adora’s lips pressed against her forehead caused a domino effect - considering the fact It felt _exactly_ like it did in the dream. She could feel her knees growing weak. _Did that dream… really happen?_

_“I think… yeah. I really like you.”_

What Adora said to her in the dream hit her like a truck at that moment. She remembered it all.

_“I wonder… maybe I can trust you with my secret.”_

_Her… secret... What does this all mean? I don’t understand this. I need to ask her—_

“I really loved this date. Maybe we can go downtown sometime together?” Adora sincerely asked.

Glimmer was able to stop the dominoes from falling in her mind for a moment as she replied, “Yeah. Sounds great.”


	4. So Sad, So Sad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mermista's beach bonfire should be a fun thing for Glimmer. Why does she find herself so sad?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I REALLY don’t mean to delay this fic as much as I have. But a few days after publishing the last chapter, I somehow got flu-like symptoms (which is apparently a legitimate diagnosis?) and a strep infection at the same time. ._. I've never been double sick before, but here's to hoping that never happens again. College starts up again next week, but I think I'll be able to get chapter 5 out soon. ALSO. I know these titles are weird as hell. It'll all make sense at the end I SWEAR
> 
> Content warning ahead. There are direct mentions of Micah’s death in this one and mentions of mutilation. If anyone needs trigger warnings, please let me know. I’ll do my best to remember :)

Being around Adora had become far more difficult. It was getting a lot harder to speak with her while giving eye contact. Her slate-blue eyes were easy to get lost in.

The two had walked downtown, seeing it was still too cold to ride on Adora’s motorcycle. The idea of riding on a motorcycle seemed exhilarating, but not worth being stabbed with freezing wind. They sat in the corner of a humble Thai restaurant. It was pretty crowded, yet the two were still able to hear each other over the buzz.

“Have you ever tried Thai coffee?” Glimmer asked.

“I would think you’d be tired of coffee at this point,” Adora noted.

“Nah, Thai coffee is great. But it’s really sweet,” Glimmer explained. She was tempted to follow up with “like you”, but ultimately chose not to, “I don’t think you’d like it.”

“Yeah, you’re right...” Adora rejected, “But hey, go crazy, I’m paying,”

Glimmer glared at her as she scalded, “No you’re not.”

“Yes, I am. You made dinner last date, it’s only fair I pay for dinner this time,” Adora protested.

“Adora—”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Now, go crazy,” Adora adamantly demanded.

The two were stubborn. This battle would likely never end if Glimmer continued to protest.

“Oh, fine,” Glimmer gave in.

There was a brief pause between the two as they continued looking at the menu.

“Hey.”

It was that kind of _hey_ , the kind that immediately grabbed Glimmer’s attention. She looked up, seeing earnesty in Adora’s eyes.

“I don’t think I’ve said this, but I’m really sorry I couldn’t study with you last Wednesday,” Adora apologized, her tone low.

Glimmer didn’t think much of it at the time. She wasn’t even upset with Adora for skipping out on their study session. She didn’t even bother to ask her why she did.

She simply smiled at Adora and forgave her, “It’s alright.”

* * *

There was a pond across the street from the restaurant. A fountain circulated the water, preventing it from being frozen like everything else in Bright Moon. It was dark out, but the streetlights illuminated the park spectacularly. The two sat at a bench close to the edge of the water.

Domesticated ducks approached them, adorably begging for food. Luckily, Glimmer had planned ahead. Out of her messenger bag, she pulled out two bags of frozen peas.

“I was wondering what you had in your bag,” Adora noted before asking, “You brought me here to feed ducks?”

Glimmer defensively rebutted, “Yeah? What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing. It’s just a cute idea.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d enjoy it or not… But, here! Take these!” Glimmer grabbed a handful of peas, offering them to Adora.

They began tossing peas out to the mallards, who clearly enjoyed the offering. Urgently and viciously, they picked at the peas. This gained a laugh of enjoyment from Adora.

“Oh my god, they’re so cute,” Adora bubbled.

“If you listen, you can hear them eat,” Glimmer informed.

For a moment, the two were silent in order to listen in. The sound of their beaks rapidly clicking as they ate peas earned another laugh from Adora.

“Aaah!” Adora squealed in joy, “That’s such a weird sound?! It’s so cute! Why have I never done this?!”

A jubilant smile plastered Adora’s face. It was so charming how excited she was over feeding peas to ducks. She threw out another clutch of peas, observing the ducks in their frenzy. 

Adora looked over at Glimmer. _I’ve been looking at her too long, haven’t I?_

“Could I have more?!” Adora excitedly begged, almost like a child.

Glimmer couldn’t help but giggle, “Of course.”

She placed the bag in the small space between them and they began a steady pace of tossing peas. They were silent again, as if they were in a trance.

“I feel like we’re a bunch of old people…” Adora mused as she sank back into the bench.

Suddenly, the feeling of Adora’s hand touching her own in the pea bag caught her attention. It was brief, seeing as the two quickly took their hands back.

"S-Sorry," Glimmer murmured.

_Yeah, it’s going to be really hard to be around Adora now._

* * *

Time seemed to fly that semester. A month had passed since their first date together. They spent their Saturdays watching Youtube series together, catching up on Buzzfeed Unsolved. Before she knew it, Spring Break was around the corner. Just like every Wednesday for the past two months, Adora waited for Glimmer outside the cafe. Mermista followed Glimmer, locking the door to the cafe behind them.

“Hey, Glim! Was your day okay?”

 _Glim. That’s new._ Sadly, she had no cute abbreviated nicknames for Adora.

“Yeah! How about yours?”

Adora was about to continue the conversation, but it seemed like Mermista wanted to say something. The two looked over at the deadpan girl.

"Hey, Glimmer. I know you never come, but I’m going to invite you - yet again - to my spring break celebration bonfire thing,” Mermista mundanely spoke as per usual, “It’s going to be at my parent’s beachfront property, so it’ll be really cool. Oh, you can totally bring your girlfriend.”

It was like when Scorpia asked the two if they wanted privacy in Adora’s dorm. They glanced at each other, wondering what to say.

"We’re… she’s… not my girlfriend…" Adora timidly interjected.

Mermista judged the two, "... Riiiiiiight,” she sarcastically rolled before continuing on, “You can bring other people. Just… no drugs. My parents can smell weed a mile away and will _never_ let me use the beachfront house again,” Mermista actually added some emotion in her voice, pinging that of desperation.

Mermista and their group of friends had known each other since high school. Bow, Seahawk, Mermista, and herself were all in marching band, a cursed time for all of them. She wasn’t really sure where Perfuma came from. All she knew was that Perfuma lived in a commune and no one in the group talks about it.

Every spring break since they met, Mermista had invited Glimmer to the bonfire thing. There had been a good reason she hadn’t accepted the invitation ever — seeing the beach was the last place she went with her father before he became bedridden. She hadn’t been back to the beach since, despite being an hour away.

Before she could reject, Adora’s voice interrupted her, "Sounds fun! I'll go! I haven't been to the beach in a long time.”

Maybe this time it would be different. Adora would be there, and the two could make new memories at the beach. It seemed a bit shallow later on, but Glimmer agreed.

“I’ll come this year, Mermista.”

* * *

“Would Mermista be alright with me inviting Scorpia and our friend, you think?”

It was after their study session that night. The two were walking up the staircase in the dormitory.

“Oh, yeah. If you didn’t catch on, Mermista is really laid back… But who's your other friend?”

Adora stopped in place once they reached the second floor, where Glimmer’s dorm was.

“If you thought Scorpia and I were weird, Entrapta is a whole new level,” Adora warned, “But hey! Will I finally be able to meet your friend? The name escapes me...”

Glimmer had brought up Bow a few times.

“Yeah! Bow can probably drive us all down there, he has a mom minivan,” 

Adora laughed, “That would be great! Let’s do that. I’ll ask for time off. I’m really excited.”

The two smiled at each other. One of those pauses in time, where they forget where they are and what they are doing. Yet, something hung in the back of Glimmer’s mind. A frown crossed her lips as reality sunk in. She looked away from Adora, nervously running her fingers through her hair.

“So, this is the part of the month where you say you’re sick, right?” Glimmer spoke mundanely.

Adora was a bit put off by the question. She scratched the back of her head before resting her hand on her neck.

“Y-Yeah, it is.”

Delicately, she wrapped her fingers around the strap of her messenger bag. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, and it was clear that Adora would say nothing unless asked. Hesitantly, she looked back up at Adora. Gulit plagued her, it was obvious she felt bad for being so vague with Glimmer.

“So, what is it? Do you get bad periods or something?” Glimmer felt bad for prying, but wanted to know.

“No,” Adora sighed, gripping the railing beside her, “It’s… something different.”

“If there’s something wrong, you can always trust me,” Glimmer’s voice was soft, tearing into Adora’s empathic soul.

Adora looked back at Glimmer. She bit her gum, as if she was trying really hard to spit out, “It’s… really weird.”

“Go ahead, tell me,” Glimmer insisted.

There was a brief pause. Adora anxiously shifted as she said, “I have to go to Whispering Woods Nature preserve once a month.”

A thousand questions popped into Glimmer’s head all at once. _What? To do what? What is so important that she has to drop everything and go to a nature preserve I’ve never heard of once a month? I mean, what the fuck?_ But ultimately, all that came out of Glimmer was a, “Why?”

“I… I’ll tell you later. I…” Adora hesitated once more, “I don’t think you’re ready to hear it.”

A thousand more questions popped into Glimmer’s head. She desperately wanted to just scream, _“Just fucking tell me,”_ but something held her back. She was sure the reason she went there was deeply personal. Something possessed her to reach out and delicately grasp Adora’s arm. The touch earned a surprised look from Adora.

“I’m here for you, if you ever need anything,” Glimmer comforted.

Adora’s normally suave smile was now a soft, reassured one — one that was comforted by Glimmer’s promises.

“Thank you, Glimmer…” Adora almosted whispered.

It was then that Glimmer decided she would be patient with Adora. No matter how hard it would be.

* * *

Spring Break had been uneventful thus far as Bow was on a trip with his dads. She was over at her mom’s, although she was gone for work most the break. What did a college president do when college was on break?! God knows.

It was tempting to ask Adora if she wanted to go on a date with her. Yet, cowardice crept into her and held her back. Besides, her mother would likely have a heart attack if Adora rode in on her motorcycle.

Her mind drifted as she mindlessly scrolled through Reddit. Why did she say yes to Mermista? It hit her that perhaps she was trying way too hard to get with Adora. What if she didn’t even like Glimmer back? Did she just want a relationship to be in a relationship, or did she genuinely like Adora for who she was? 

_Wait, what kind of question is that? Of course I like Adora._ Adora had many, many quirks - some more charming than others. She could be very strange, but maybe Adora would open up soon.

She wasn’t trying to get closer to Adora this trip, as she was already close to Adora. Close enough to consider telling her things about her own life — as much as she hoped Adora would explain her life situation. Perhaps Adora would trust her enough to start telling her the truth about why she disappears to Whispering Woods every month, or why she has no family photos in her dorm.

She continued scrolling through Reddit, her mind a little more in tuned. She usually didn’t use the website, yet she didn’t want to sleep. She mostly subscribed to mystery related Reddits. Part of her had always been a fan of true crime and mysteries. The unknown drew her in. Maybe that’s why she stayed with Adora, despite her weird secret-keeping.

A post caught her attention. It was under the Bright Moon Subreddit of all places. Usually the only things posted there were town events or weird, highly specific memes that only people from Bright Moon would understand. This post was a lot different.

> _“Something fucking WEIRD is happening in Bright Moon guys”_

For one reason or another, it was tagged as NSFW. _NSFW? Why’s it tagged NSFW?_ She didn’t expect what to read when she opened the post. It was a relatively new post. She decided to check it out - mainly out of curiosity. It was a long text post.

> _“I havent seen any news outlet covering this so here we go. I would say about a year ago, i was bow hunting for deer with my cousin. There’s land next to whispering woods nature preserve that you’re allowed to hunt on”_

_Whispering Woods? Like where Adora goes every month?_ Glimmer was very curious now.

> _“We were scouting out areas to set up our blind when we came across the weirdest fucking shit. Fair warning: its an image of a mauled deer”_

There was an Imgur link attached. Glimmer could usually handle the sight of violent, gross things in movies. Gory horror movies rarely ever made her feel queasy. There could be some really disgusting shit on Reddit, yet she purposely avoided that. This time, curiosity got the better of her and she clicked attached photo.

Immediate regret.

She had never seen anything like it. It barely looked like a deer anymore. It was decapitated, with its head nowhere to be seen in the photo. Massive chunks were missing, and it was obvious something had eaten a good portion of the deer. Long, fearful claw marks stained the few patches of intact fur. The photo made her sick and uneasy.

> _“Scared the living fucking shit out of us. We never went back to the area because we dont wanna run into whatever the FUCK did that. While it looks like a bear might have done it, that cant be the case.. Bears would not spend so much energy killing a deer and not even finish the damn thing. And the head?! What the fuck?_
> 
> _We informed the bright moon game warden. There could be some weird fuck out the woods. But by the time we got back to the location where the carcass was, it had been dragged off im guessing by the coyotes or some shit._
> 
> _Well fast forward to recently. I was scrollin through facebook and guess what i fucking saw! Somebody with a near identical story to mine at the same hunting grounds, but much much worse. They didn’t find a deer… they found a BEAR!! I’ll attach a photo again and you know the drill. This shit is graphic.”_

Glimmer was getting too invested. She loved a good mystery, and this was happening in her own town. The photo was more of the same, eerily similar to the deer photo. A black bear that had been decapitated, its rib cage split open and claw marks all over its body.

> “ _But with this one we have a better story behind it. The person on facebook claimed the bear was still bleeding out and felt warm when they found it.. The person also said they heard howling. Not coys but like fucking WOLF HOWLING. WE DON’T HAVE WOLVES IN MAINE. And what kind of jacked as shit wolf or wolves would be able to do this shit? AND LEAVE THE CARCASS BEHIND_
> 
> _The game warden was contacted and the investigation is being taken seriously since its not bear season. I know this post might get deleted but idc. This is some weird shit. I just wanted to tell somebody. I want to feel safe in our little town of Bright Moon. Please be careful out at whispering woods.”_

_Whispering Woods. That’s… where Adora goes._ Immediately, she copied the link, texting it to Adora.

> _“Have you seen this?”_

She nervously kept checking her phone for that next hour, waiting for a reply from Adora.

> _“Hi Glimmer!!!! Sorry I didnt see this. Yeah 🙄 hunters are annoying lol. Probably making up shit for attention. The most exciting thing they do is wake up at 3am to sit in a blind for 8 hours.”_

Before Glimmer could reply, Adora oddly enough quickly changed the subject.

> _“Hey sorry I didn’t ask to hang out over break. I’ve been hanging out with Scorpia all break. Have you been doing anything?”_

Glimmer replied back, a bit disappointed that Adora changed the subject so quickly.

> _“Nothing eventful. Are you sure you’ll be safe at Whispering woods 😰 I mean that seems really dangerous”_

Adora soon replied;

> _“Hey don’t worry. I can handle myself 😉”_

Desperately again, she wanted to ask Adora why she went to Whispering Woods. Yet, she found herself reluctant to ask — afraid she would be ignored or the subject would be changed.

Maybe another day.

* * *

“Are you sure you’ll be okay tonight?” Bow’s question caught Glimmer off guard, but he was well aware why she had never been to the bonfire before. “I mean, what’s with the sudden change of heart?”

“I… Mermista invited the both of us, me and Adora,” Glimmer crossed her arms as she rested her back against Bow’s van, “Adora said she wanted to go before I could say no.”

“Glimmer…” Bow’s voice became fraught with concern, “Getting with this girl isn’t as important as your mental health.”

Ouch. Bow could be brutally honest with Glimmer at times. The kind of honest that really hurt, but she was too stubborn to accept. Unbeknownst to Bow, Glimmer had thought about this.

“Like I don’t know that,” Glimmer murmured, before calming her demeanor, “Bow, I think it’s time… I let things go. For me to make new memories.”

It was as if Bow ignored what she just said, “You don’t have to go, Glimmer.”

“You’re not stopping me,” Glimmer stubbornly rebutted,, “I’ve thought hard about this.”

Suddenly, a white Sedan pulled up near them. This didn’t stop Bow from ending his parental-like scalding.

“If you want to leave at any point, please—”

“Bow,” her voice was quiet, yet confident, “I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay.”

“Bow!?” a stranger called out.

He turned to the white Sedan. An older girl stepped out of the car. She had what was possibly the longest hair Glimmer had ever seen, put up in two pigtails. Bow smiled at the stranger.

"Oh, Entrapta!" Bow exclaimed.

"Bow! It's been awhile!" she said

"You two know each other?" Scorpia butted in as she opened up the trunk.

"Yeah, we worked together," Bow noted. It was nice to know Bow had nerd friends.

Their conversation somehow drowned out as she saw Adora coming out of the car. It had been a few days since the two had seen one another. Right as soon as Glimmer thought she had her emotions under control around Adora, she could feel her heart skip a beat. Adora’s eyes brightened as they crossed with Glimmer’s.

"Hey, Glimmer!” Adora excitedly resounded as she grabbed her backpack from the trunk. It was cute how happy Adora sounded to see her.

Adora threw her bag over her shoulder before walking up and hugging Glimmer. It caught Glimmer by surprise how tightly she held onto her.

“I’ve missed you. Sorry we weren’t able to hang out over break,” Adora apologized as she distanced herself.

“Hey, that’s alright! We’re together now.”

Glimmer nearly slapped herself. She could feel Bow’s eyes boring into her after she said that. Quickly, she corrected herself, “I-I mean, tonight will be fun.”

* * *

Glimmer sat between Adora and Entrapta during the hour long drive. The five talked a bit, figuring out new things about each other. Apparently, Scorpia was majoring in Entomology — it was news to Glimmer that they offered it at Bright Moon. Entrapta had graduated the year prior with a degree in computer sciences.

“You wanna see my boyfriend? We met on League of Legends,” Entrapta asked, the question kind of coming out of nowhere.

“Uh… sure?” Glimmer replied, nervously smiling.

Glimmer was sure it wasn’t _just_ the fact she had zero attraction to men. This man was the ugliest man she had ever laid her eyes on. Unhealthily skinny, ghostly pale skin, and long, unkempt black hair plagued the poor creature on the phone screen. He appeared to be the kind of man that had an anime icon on Twitter.

“Isn’t he the cutest?!” Entrapta asked with such genuineness, “We’re meeting up at Comic Con this summer!”

This was the worst moment of her life, she was sure of it. _How the fuck am I supposed to reply to that? This man looks like a hairball pulled out of a shower drain._

In a fit of desperation, Glimmer briefly glanced at Adora. Adora was biting her gums, appearing to hold back laughter.

“That’s nice,” Glimmer barely managed to squeeze out.

* * *

Scratch that. The moment with Entrapta in the car was far more pleasant than the moment she stepped out of the car. It was much, much worse than she thought it would be. Immediately after exiting the car, a wave of nostalgia hit her. The smell of the saltwater, the sound of the waves, the way the setting sun hits the surface of the ocean — all of it invigorating her memories. She stepped away from the group, taking the sight in.

She felt bad about being so gloomy when her friends were so happy. It was a nice beach house that Mermista was nice enough to invite her to. The house was two floors, and sat right atop of the rocky dune that overlooked the shoreline. A stone path led down to the shoreline, a bit hidden by the many evergreen trees. At the end of the path, a long, worn dock lied.

The sun was setting, and the beach was such a beautiful, eye-catching place during twilight. However, it was opening up a deep wound. A hand grasped onto her shoulder. Upon turning to see who it was, Bow stood close to her.

“Hey. I can still take you home if you want,” Bow kindly offered, keeping his voice low.

“I think I just I need a moment," Glimmer feebly murmured.

As she walked towards the stone pathway, she was sure she could hear Bow and Adora whispering to one another.

“She didn’t tell you, did she?”

She merely ignored their whispering, continuing down the pathway. She could feel her chest tighten and her throat became dry. The sound of the waves kept getting louder the closer she got. _I shouldn’t have come here._

Cormorants dried their wings on the dock, quickly diving into the water as she stepped on it. Glimmer looked out at the sea again. Pipers explored the rocky shoreline, while gulls called from up above. All of it was an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia. The rough sea wind blew on the evergreens above the shoreline, mimicking the sound of the ocean waves.

Her knees were growing weak. She saw fit to toss her legs over the edge over the dock, sitting down as she continued to take in the sight. Her breathing became labored. It had been way too long since she had been out at the beach. At that point, she wasn’t sure if she was happy or really depressed. She finally overcame her personal hurdle — she made it to the beach without completely losing her shit.

She could get through this. She could enjoy the beach again.

“You looked a little lonely out here.”

Glimmer gasped at the sudden sound of a familiar voice. She didn’t even hear her walk on the dock. Adora bashfully rubbed the back of her neck.

“Oh, sorry. I scared you, didn’t I?” Adora apologized.

“You’re okay. I just… needed to think,” Glimmer crossed her arms as a breeze tackled her.

“You mind if I join? It’s okay if you say no,”

Memories jogged in her mind. That was something Adora had said to her that first week they met — when asking if Glimmer wanted to study with her. She couldn’t say no then, and she couldn’t say no at that moment. Adora was always so comforting, enough to put aside her apprehension.

“Yeah. You can sit with me,” her voice cracked.

Adora did so, hanging her longer legs over the edge of the dock. She was slightly hunched over, looking at Glimmer with a worried expression.

“You’ve seem a little distant today. Bow told me it’s hard for you to go to the beach… Do you want to talk about it?” Adora spoke in that low, comforting tone.

She weakly smiled, attempting to push away Adora.

“It’s… silly…” Glimmer heaved a heavy sigh.

“No, it’s not. You know you can tell me anything.”

She could feel a lump in her throat. Every part of her wanted to hold back, not let Adora see her cry. It had been years since she had lamented to anyone about her father. Withal, she felt she could trust Adora with the world. A heavy sigh escaped her.

“It’s just… my dad. Me and him, we used to go to the beach all the time… Most of the time, to fish…” she paused a moment, “A-And, every time, we fed the leftover bait to the gulls… He would tell me never to feed them junk food because they would get sick. Dad cared so much for the world, even little things… He had so much love. It’s cruel how karma works, huh?”

Glimmer trailed off. Memories of her father flooded her mind. She clutched at the fabric of her pants. _Okay, maybe I will lose my shit._

“He got sick. He kept getting sicker. We stopped going to the beach… I didn’t get it at the time, and no adult could ever explain what it all meant,” waterworks began involuntarily cascading from her eyes, “Fuck! For the longest time, my mom would cry every time she looked at me…”

A tear trickled out of her eye as she thought of how defeated her mother was in those first few years. They barely did anything together after her father died. Hell, they still barely spoke.

“I can’t blame her. How could she tell me…? That dad…” Glimmer took a moment, taking a slow breath, “He had cancer… and that... he wasn’t going to make it…”

Suddenly, Glimmer was pulled into a tight hug. The kind of hug that made it feel like she would be alright. All she could think about was how in a perfect world, Adora and her father would get along great. Both down to earth, genuine people that wanted to help the word.

And her father would be proud of Glimmer and who she was.

What Adora said next changed her composure entirely, “It’s alright. If you want to cry, you can.”

A dam was opened up, releasing a flood of emotions. Glimmer cried loudly into Adora’s shoulder. It had been years since she had cried like this to anyone. It felt so good being able to cry as loudly as she wanted. Nothing mattered to her at that moment, besides her selfish need to let everything go. Everything that had plagued her for years.

"Oh, god…” she sharply breathed, “Why does it still hurt so much…?" Glimmer sobbed.

Adora’s warmth was so welcoming and comforting, as her hands gripped onto Glimmer’s jacket. Glimmer was pulled deeper into the hug.

"I know you probably haven't heard this enough in your life… But Glimmer, you’re probably the most amazing girl I know,” Adora consoled.

Somehow, this encouraged Glimmer to quiet down her crying. Her fingers tightened on Adora’s jacket as her tears continued.

Adora rambled on, “You’re so smart and you work so hard. You know what? Your dad would be _so_ proud of you.”

Adora pulled away, clutching Glimmer’s shoulders as her slate blue eyes looked deep into her. The classic, collected smile that normally adorned Adora’s lips was weak.

“I know what it’s like having people tell you they're sorry but they don't know what else to say… That’s all you’ve ever heard, huh?” Adora practically lamented.

Glimmer used the cuff of her jacket to wipe her tears. Adora was right. As great of a friend Bow was, he didn’t understand it. He would comfort her in moments like this, but didn’t know what to say. It was if Adora spoke from personal experience.

“Yeah…” Glimmer sniffled.

“I know exactly how you feel…" Adora hesitated before saying, "It’s the same for me when I tell people I was abandoned as a child.”

Glimmer’s eyes grew wide as her crying stopped altogether. All her own anxieties were put aside for a moment, as she felt sorry for Adora. Glimmer tenderly put her hand over the one rested on her shoulder.

“Adora…”

Fingers strengthen their grip on Glimmer’s shoulders.

“Please, don't tell me you're sorry,” Adora begged, “I'm sure both of us have heard that enough in our lives. What neither of us hear is that the pain will _never_ go away, and you can’t hide that pain. You _shouldn’t_ hide that pain."

How could someone abandon someone so amazing? Adora had been such a light in her life, a piece of her that was missing. She was a wonderful friend, a dedicated student, and a hard worker. Adora was beautiful in every sense. It made Glimmer angry - who could do such a thing?

In the spur of the moment, Glimmer wrapped her arms around Adora neck, smiling against her shoulder.

“Adora… thank you,” Glimmer softly beamed, “What you’ve said… it’s exactly what I needed to hear for a long, long time.”

The two embraced, enjoying one another’s company. Everything felt like it would be alright. Glimmer was allowed to be sad and angry about what happened to her father. That’s what she needed to hear.

“God, way to dampen the mood, huh?” Glimmer used her sleeve once more to wipe her tears away as she shuffled away from Adora.

“It’s better you got it out now," Adora mused, "You want to go back?"

"Not really…” Glimmer paused for a moment, “I’d rather watch the sunset.”

“Yeah… that sounds nice. Mind if I stay with you?” Adora asked.

“Of course you can stay here.”

They didn’t talk much after that. The two sat in silence, watching the sun set over the ocean. The sounds of the gulls diminished as the sun sank lower and lower. The pipers were nowhere to be seen after the last of the sun’s rays touched the sky. No longer was the sight upsetting to Glimmer with Adora by her side.

She still absolutely enjoyed these quiet moments with her.

“Wait, can we talk about Entrapta’s boyfriend really quick?” Adora suddenly interrupted the moment.

Glimmer erupted with vibrant laughter, “Shit, I thought you’d never bring that up!”

* * *

Mermista opened the door to a large bedroom. It was apparently the master bedroom, stuffed with an old, uncomfortable looking couch and a bed. Just like the rest of the house, it was decorated with tacky nautical memorabilia. A bathroom was connected to the bedroom, being a welcome addition to Glimmer — she planned on drinking that night.

“You two get the master. I wanted to give you privacy.”

Glimmer rubbed her forehead as she spoke, “We’re not - oh, it’s no use…”

Mermista ran off, leaving the two girls in the room alone. Sleeping on the rocky coastline would likely be more comfortable than sleeping on the cheap, old couch. She didn’t want to put Adora through that.

“I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Weirdly, both of them had simultaneously said that. They stared at each other, a bit bewildered.

“No, no. _I’m_ sleeping on the couch,” Adora crossed her arms, trying to one up Glimmer.

“Adora—”

“Glimmer, it’s okay. I’ve slept on much worse,” Adora huffed.

She sat back on the couch. Immediately, the structure caved in.

Adora grunted, “Or I can sleep on the floor. That’s cool, too.”

This would be a fun night.


	5. Weekend 4 The Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer knew something between her and Adora would eventually happen. Sharing a bed only accelerated things. Yet... she always knew it would hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is fucking wild. I apologize in advance. Warning: there’s drinking in this chapter!  
> Reminder that I always appreciate any comments — even short ones. It helps me keep writing :-) Also, feel free to reach out to me! We can talk about Glimadora and She-Ra.  
> [My Tumblr](https://etherian-frigatebird.tumblr.com/)  
> [My Twitter](https://twitter.com/Hawluchadoras)

Seahawk made some kickass fish tacos. Mermista had set up a few of lawn chairs around the supposed “bonfire" — what was really a large campfire, at best. Glimmer sat beside Adora and Bow on a log, fashioned as a bench. Some blankets lay on the sand nearby. The group was decent, though it appeared Perfuma and Mermista chose not to invite anyone else. 

“Fear not, friends! Scorpia’s brought enough alcohol for everyone!” Seahawk blurted aloud.

Scorpia was walking down the shoreline, cooler in hand.

“Yeah, no worries, I—”

Scorpia dropped the cooler down on the sand, accidentally spilling it on its side in the process. Mermista sat slumped in her lawn chair, running a hand through her face.

“Not the booze...” she monotoned.

“Oh, oh gosh — I’m so sorry,” Scorpia vehemently apologized, bending down to pick up the mess.

“I can help you!” Perfuma was quick to help. Almost too quick.

As Scorpia looked up at Perfuma, Glimmer could see something spark between them. Maybe they’d make a cute couple. Scorpia was klutzy and awkward, and Perfuma was forgiving and awkward. Yeah, they’d be perfect for each other.

After the two picked up the beer bottles, they began passing them around. Glimmer happily accepted, earning a concerned look from Adora.

“Glimmer?! I thought you were 20?” Adora worriedly questioned.

“Oh, Adora…” Glimmer drawled, “That’s cute.”

Perfuma attempted to offer Adora a bottle, only for her to put her hands up in protest. Adora mouthed a quiet, “No thanks.” Perfuma merely shrugged her shoulders, moving onto Bow.

Glimmer flashed a sauve smile as she teased, “What? You can’t take your alcohol?”

Adora’s composure seemed anxious. It was one of the few times she had witnessed Adora lightly bouncing her leg. Like usual when she was nervous, she ran her hand over her neck.

“Nah, I-I just think it’s gross,” Adora spluttered.

Part of Glimmer knew she was lying. She chose not to press on, knowing it was likely for personal reasons. For a moment, she felt bad for pressing Adora on. Apologizes would come later.

"So, Adora," Bow seemed petty, "You have a job?"

"Yeah, the Thaymor Market. I stock produce and work register,"

Bow could be worse than Glimmers mom sometimes. Scratch that, he _could_ be her mom sometimes. The way he asked the questions seem like an interview her mom would perform on potential suitors.

"I see," he nods, "Glimmer has told me a lot about you."

If they were sitting at a table, Bow would've gotten a kick to the leg at that moment. Instead, he received a fiery glare that furiously dug into his eyes. As Bows interview continued, Glimmer heard someone plopped next to her. She shifted, turning to see Perfuma next to her. Perchance, a little too close to her.

Perfuma voice was always very upbeat, but it was more so than usual as she sang, "Oh, Glimmer?"

"Y-Yes?" she was nervous to reply..

Oddly enough, Perfuma wasn’t even looking at her. Instead, she appeared to be enamored with the sight of Scorpia who sat across the fire — drinking and socializing with Seahawk. Quickly, Glimmer caught on to what Perfuma’s intentions were.

“Tell me what you know about… her…" Perfuma whispered, her eyes still locked on Scorpia.

“Scorpia? I don’t know her too much. She’s Adora’s roommate,” Glimmer remarked.

“Oh is she? Do you know if she’s single?” Perfuma eyelashes fluttered at Glimmer as she actually gave her eye contact.

“Pretty sure she’s single. Go talk to her!” Glimmer encouraged.

Perfuma let go of Glimmer, choosing to cross her arms anxiously. Glimmer could barely make out red on Perfuma’s cheeks through the orange lighting of the fire. _Man, Perfuma has it bad for Scorpia._

“I’m… feeling hesitant,” Perfuma fretted, “I know the stars have aligned for her and I to meet tonight. But what if we’re not compatible?”

At that moment, Glimmer was sure the no-weed rule Mermista set was directed at Perfuma. She had little idea of how to respond to Perfuma most the time.

“From the little we’ve talked, she’s a bit awkward but nice. By the looks of it, she’s getting along with Seahawk — which must mean she can get along with anyone. You’ll be fine,” Glimmer inspirited.

Worry washed away from Perfuma, as she appeared far more hopeful, “Thank you, Glimmer. I wish good karma for you.”

With that, Perfuma walked over to Scorpia. Glimmer smiled, watching the two formally introduce themselves. She looked over at Bow and Adora, who were now getting along swimmingly.

As she predicted, she was making new memories at the beach. Here with her friends and Adora.

* * *

Glimmer regretted teasing Adora for not being able to handle alcohol. _She_ couldn’t handle her alcohol. Simply two bottles _really_ had gotten to her. Upon halfway through her third one, Bow angrily snatched it away from her, the killjoy.

The beach had gotten smaller. Bonfire flames were growing smaller, yet the flames felt hotter. The beach was virtually pitch black beyond the torches Mermista had lit. Acid tore at her stomach, but she was sure she could tough it out.

Most of the party was a little tipsy at this point, except Adora. Entrapta and Bow lay next to each other on the beach, barely able to hold up Entrapta’s pad as they watched some nerd shit. Seahawk and Mermista were nowhere to be found. Perfuma had a hand on Scorpia’s thigh — _damn, that was quick._

Glimmer got up. Why? She wasn’t sure. She was feeling like she would immediately fall down. She felt someone grab her forearm. It felt so incredibly strong, yet in reality it was a gentle touch.

“Alright, Glimmer, I think it’s time for you to ease up,” Adora sounded vexed.

Was Adora angry at her? This would be a first. Glimmer smiled at Adora. “Wow, I never noticed how orange you are, Adora,” Glimmer giggled.

“That’s… the light from the fire,” Adora sighed, “Which we should get you _far_ away from. You are _so_ drunk,” she scalded.

“No, ‘m not” Glimmer’s words slurred together, “In what world am I... drunk?”

Adora was clearly losing her patience, crossing her arms at Glimmer. She felt a little sad, Adora was no longer touching her!

“How cute. You were the one that was telling me _I_ can’t handle my alcohol when _you’re_ the one about to pass out over two beers,” Adora badgered.

_Cute? She called me cute, she called me cute, she called me cute—_ Glimmer’s eyes shined up at Adora, as a quaint smile curled her lips. She stumbled forward, shakily grabbing Adora’s hand.

“You think I’m cute?!” Glimmer practically whined.

Adora’s anger appeared to ease at the sight of Glimmer’s smile, “I do. But we should get you to bed before you pass out.”

“No, _you_ go to bed,” Glimmer sassed back.

“C’mon. Hold onto my arm,” Adora instructed, holding her arm out.

Glimmer shut up, gladly accepting the invitation to latch onto Adora. Glimmer wrapped her arm around Adora’s, laughing as she did so.

“Hehe… okay… I’ll go to bed,” Glimmer spoke tiredly.

They began walking back the path up the house. Her feet felt like anvils were attached to them — a migraine was starting.. She could barely make out the sight of the dock on the horizon. Glimmer grabbed Adora’s sleeve, strongly pulling at her.

“Adora,” Glimmer whined, “I’m going to the dock.”

Adora cocked her head, “... Alright? You won’t be able to see much besides the stars.”

She wasn’t sure why she wanted to go to the dock. Yet, she still grabbed Adora’s hand, forcing her to follow along. There were no torches along the dock, and the moonlight was poor. In her drunken haze, she hadn’t realized how far long they were on the dock — probably towards the end of it.

“Uh… Glimmer? What are we doing?” Adora nervously asked.

Glimmer pivoted around. In her mind, it looked graceful and attractive — but to Adora, it was a drunken stooper. She could make out the light in Adora’s slate blue eyes that looked down at her with concern. It was romantic how the small amount of moonlight shone on Adora’s hair, how it reflected across her eyes. Glimmer guided Adora’s hand to her shoulder, stepping closer to her.

“Wow… you’re cute,” Glimmer giggled.

Adora looked bewildered, “Thanks? Glim, why did you want to go out here?”

Her mind was losing track of reality. Were they just friends? She couldn’t remember.

“I like it when you call me Glim,” Glimmer amorously purred.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Adora considered.

Alcohol was really starting to control Glimmer as she wrapped her arms around Adora’s neck. Their bodies were pressed closer together. Even though she was incredibly drunk, she could sense tension from Adora. She was clearly angry with Glimmer for getting so wasted. In her state, Glimmer couldn’t notice the blush forming on Adora’s cheeks. Partially from anger, but mostly from the minuscule space between them.

“Uh, hey, if you want to do this, let’s get you _far_ away from the ocean — or anything dangerous for that matter,” Adora fretted.

“Stop it, worrywart. Why are you _soooooooo_ worried about me hurting myself?” Glimmer shifted closer as she continued to slur, “Worrywart. Heh, that can be _your_ cute nickname.”

“Sure. Whatever makes you happy,” Adora was still a bit flustered.

“Wanna give me some other cute pet names, sweetheart? Heh, you can call me whatever you want, wherever you want,” Glimmer wobbly flirted.

Suddenly, Glimmer was shot back into reality when Adora grabbed her forearms with nearly bruising force. She gently pushed Glimmer away, visibly annoyed.

“Woah, okay,” Adora sighed, “You’re too drunk to consent to anything right now. Maybe we can talk more when you sober up, okay?” Despite how stressed she was, Adora spoke gingerly..

Glimmer pulled her arms away, crossing them across her chest and pouting, “Why are you being so mean to me?”

Adora sharply deflected, “I’m not being mean. You’re just incredibly drunk right now. Now, let’s get you inside before you hurt yourself.”

Glimmer began walking. Where? She wasn’t sure. Dangerously, she walked close to the edge of the dock. Again, she was unaware of how far along they were on the dock — how dangerously far into the sea the dock went.

“Alright, you win, just take me in—”

“Glimmer, watch out!”

Suddenly, Glimmer was falling. Reality didn’t really hit Glimmer until cold, unforgiving water surrounded her. Panic struck her, as her clothes felt like anchors weighing her down. It had been years since she had been in deep water and her mind was blank. Was it because she was drunk, or because she had forgotten how to swim?

There was a loud splash next to her. Hands reached under her arms, and that anchor-like feeling was gone. Relief flooded her as she was pulled up above the surface of the water. Cold, torturous wind blistered her face. Her first breath was desperate, yet the panic in her mind seemed to ease.

A strong arm wrapped around her chest, helping her float. She could feel herself being pulled back and supported.

“Glimmer, are you alright?” Adora sounded calm, despite how scary the situation was for the both of them, “Please, say something.”

“Y-Yeah,” Glimmer stuttered out.

She could feel Adora’s legs kicking beneath them. They weren’t too far from shore, yet it felt like they were in the water for hours. Finally, Adora anchored herself in shallow water, pulling Glimmer up by her arm as she stood. She could feel the sand beneath her heavy, soggy shoes. Soon enough, cold wind began dancing across her entire body.

They were back on the beach and Glimmer was absolutely freezing. Once they were far from the water, Glimmer crouched down in the sand and clutched her arms. A reassuring hand ghosted across her back as Adora dashed somewhere.

“A-Adora?” Glimmer called out, still not fully aware of what was happening.

She looked over her shoulder, seeing Adora grabbing her jacket and shoes from the dock. Adora had quickly tossed them off before jumping in after her. Quickly, Adora ran back. Glimmer felt a dry, inviting jacket being wrapped around her shoulders. Suddenly, Adora was in front of her, almost too close to her as she knelt down. Relief yet anxiety both tormented Adora as she stroked the shorter girl’s shoulders.

Adora pulled her into an urgent, tight hug. Her hand entwined in Glimmer’s wet hair, pulling her as closely as possibly to her warm body.

“God, don’t scare me like that ever again!” Adora bitterly scowled, her voice ringing loudly in her ear.

Glimmer wrapped her arms around the taller girl’s neck. Saltwater caked the both of them but neither cared at that moment.

“I g-guess I forgot how to s-swim,” she spoke through chattering teeth.

“Don’t worry… It’s okay now…” Adora reassured, seeming to let her anger dissipate.

Something took over her. Maybe the alcohol, or the fact that she could have died. Perhaps the fact Adora was so warm was making her question reality. Nothing mattered as she leaned forward to plant a kiss on Adora’s cheek.

“Thank you, Adora…” Glimmer murmured, hovering close to her cheek.

Part of her wanted to immediately apologize, yet she was too drunk to care. Adora was so caring. Without hesitation, Adora had leapt into the water after her. No thoughts about how she herself would be caked in seawater, likely freezing too. Yet, Glimmer remembered — it’s physically impossible for the girl to be cold.

The two of them were so close — _fucking hell, her lips are right there._ This all felt too good. Glimmer’s hand traced the outline of Adora’s strong jawline, reaching down to her neck. Her eyes were finally adjusting to the dimly lit beach. She could make out Adora’s soft-looking lips. Maybe she would know how they felt if she moved just a little closer. 

“Glimmer… I…” Adora drifted.

Both were unable to speak as they began to lean closer to one another. _Is this just another dream? It feels so much like my dream. Maybe I really did pass the fuck out._ Yet, the blistering cold reminded her that she was wide awake. She wanted to kiss Adora so badly, and Adora wanted to kiss her back! Her cheeks were madly red — an unfortunate concoction of her drunken state, and whatever was happening between the two at that moment.

They were so close, she could feel Adora’s breath against her. Glimmer closed her eyes, wanting this so badly.

… Adora hesitated, leaning back.

“Come on, let’s get you inside and dry off,” Adora’s voice pinged with disappointment.

Adora was an excessively careful person who didn’t want to overstep boundaries. At that moment, that was a terribly bad thing for the both of them.

Glimmer had never felt so heartbroken.

* * *

When Adora turned on the lights, Glimmer nearly hissed. A headache — no, the worst migraine of her _life_ — was starting to form. Things were still barely making any sense, and she was still freezing. At that moment, she was a little too drunk and traumatized to enjoy wearing Adora’s jacket. The saltwater on her clothes was uncomfortable, and she desperately wanted to get out of them. Maybe once she washed off, Adora would let her wear her jacket again.

Glimmer took the jacket that was draped over her shoulders, immediately feeling colder. A soft touch on her shoulder grabbed her attention.

“I’ll start the water for you,” Adora spoke quietly, aware that Glimmer was sensitive.

Her drunk mind began to race as she placed the dry jacket onto a desk. What happened was a lot to take in. Adora saving her and then… whatever the fuck happened after that. Were they about to kiss? Why didn’t they?

That’s right. Glimmer was drunk — and still drunk. Adora was too chivalrous to do something like kiss her in that state. Her mind was jogged, as she could finally remember what Adora had said to her on the dock; _“You’re too drunk to consent to anything right now. Maybe we can talk more when you sober up, okay?”_

Yeah, Glimmer was sure she was remembering it right. The way she had said it was so sweet, so caring. So… believable. Adora wanted to kiss her. Right? Her drunken thoughts drifted to the image of her soft lips.

“Sorry, that was the most confusing shower I—” Adora stopped mid sentence, as if surprised by something.

Too deep in her thoughts, Glimmer had removed her shirt too — exposing her back tattoos in the process. A deep blush tackled Adora’s cheeks, and her eyes were wide. Glimmer turned around, and Adora’s blush grew worse. Glimmer covered herself with her shirt, abashed by Adora’s reaction.

“I… um,” Adora was lost for words as she kept her gaze away from Glimmer, “I-It should be hot enough now.”

“O-Oh,” Glimmer stammered, “Thank you.”

It was long into her shower that Glimmer remembered that Adora had snapped the couch in half.

There was only one bed.

* * *

Glimmer curled up in the bed. Thankfully, the acidity in her stomach was largely gone. Yet, she was wide awake, finding herself shivering despite having a comforter over her. On top of that, Adora gave her the dry jacket. Why was she still absolutely freezing? Was the heater not working?

The door to the bathroom opened, and Glimmer sat up. Adora walked out, and Glimmer saw her with her hair down. It was the first time she had seen Adora in something that wasn’t long-sleeved. The athletic fit white shirt was tight against her toned arms.

She ran a towel through her hair once more, before looking down at Glimmer. The two looked at each other for a moment, exchanging a tense silence. The stare was a bit long. Albeit, Glimmer was focusing on her tone arms.

“I can sleep on the floor, it’s no—”

“No,” Glimmer sternly interrupted, pausing long enough to really think about what she said next, “We can share.”

A long silence befell them once again. Unlike their usual, pleasant moments of silence, this one was tense. Adora appeared surprised by the offer, staring anxiously at Glimmer.

“Are you sure?” Yet again, Adora was afraid to overstep boundaries.

“Adora, it’s okay,” Glimmer was able to reassure her, despite her flustered state.

“... Alright.”

She could feel her stomach tearing up as Adora lifted the comforter. Adora and her were going to sleep together. Why was she so fluttery at the idea? It wasn’t like they were going to be super close. It was a full sized bed, a decent size to fit the both of them. This would be professional.

Upon her lying down next to her, Glimmer wanted to immediately scoot over. Curse Adora’s warmth. It was so alluring at that cold moment. Slate blue, uneasy eyes bore into her, appearing flustered as her. That horrible silence returned, and both tried to find words to say.

Adora broke the ice with a teasing tone, “... So, you have any other tattoos?”

A weak laugh huffed out of her chattering teeth, “No. Just the wings on my back.”

“They’re cute. I didn’t expect you to have tattoos.”

Glimmer could feel her toes curl as Adora shifted closer to her. Today would be the day she would die.

Before Glimmer could thank her for the compliment, Adora suddenly exclaimed, “God, you are freezing!”

“Y-Yeah, I can’t stop shaking,” Glimmer kept her teeth from chattering as she spoke.

Another excruciatingly painful silence. A short one, but painful. Empathy tormented Adora, as a hefty sigh emerged from her chest.

“Oh, come here,” Adora gave in, “I can warm you up.”

_Oh._ Glimmer melted as Adora’s hand touched the small of her back. The feeling was gentle, tender — it made her feel something new. She could feel her lip quivering not from the cold, but from her nervousness.

“You can use my arm as a pillow, maybe?” Adora offered.

“Uh,” Glimmer gulped, “Y-Yeah.”

It felt a little too close, being pressed up against Adora’s chest. Overwhelmingly, Adora wrapped her arm around her waist — pulling her incredibly close. Their legs were tangled together unintentionally, but where else would they put them? She felt so safe in Adora’s arms — it felt so right, like it was meant to be.

However, Glimmer remembered the purpose of all this was to warm her up. God, Adora was like a furnace. For the millionth time, Glimmer was freaked out by how warm Adora felt. This moment was nice, having Adora’s toned arm wrapped around her. Her hands awkwardly hung in the little space between them, debating whether or not to clutch Adora’s shirt.

“Better?” Adora softly asked.

“Much,” Glimmer replied, glad Adora couldn’t see her stupid smile.

“If I knew you were this cold, I wouldn’t have taken a shower.”

“I would’ve made you shower anyway,” Glimmer weakly laughed, “I don’t want to share a bed with someone that smells like seaweed.”

Adora laughed lowly, sounding so cute so close. Things were starting to arrive back to her mind from earlier that night, before she started drinking. She remembered Adora rejecting beer, appearing nervous as she did so.

“You... don’t drink alcohol for a good reason, huh?” Glimmer’s voice was partially muffled.

“Yeah… my foster mom was an alcoholic. I never want to become a…” she hesitated as she said, “a monster, like her.”

She was about to say she was sorry until she remembered what Adora had told her earlier — the two of them were tired of hearing “I’m sorry” when it came to their situations. However, she herself could apologize for how she acted. In the small amount of space she had available, she was able to reach a hand out to Adora’s shoulder.

“Here I was teasing you about it… God I feel like shit now. I’m sorry about that.”

“You didn’t know. You’re okay,” there seemed to be more life in Adora’s whisper.

A troubling thought came across Glimmer, “You… you’re safe now… Right?”

“She… kicked me out when I was 16. She found out about my girlfriend at the time,” Adora gripped the back of her shirt as a heavy sigh escaped her chest, “My girlfriend’s parents let me live with them for awhile… Then, something happened… She found out something about me, and I guess she just couldn’t handle it,”

Glimmer wanted to ask so badly what exactly this _thing_ was. What was so bad that someone would break up with such a wonderful human being? The way she worded it made it sound like it was something with her, out of her control. Was she trans or intersex? Glimmer would be absolutely fine with that. Other than that, she had absolutely no clue what this could all be about.

Adora quietly faltered, “I… was homeless for a whole summer. Things ended up okay in the end. I was able to live in a shelter. I met some really good friends there, and was able to go back to high school… I got a scholarship to Bright Moon, and I was able to get a job… Things are so much better now.”

“Adora… I really look up to you,” Glimmer’s fingers tightened their grip on Adora’s shirt, “Even though the world’s been shit to you… you’re still so caring, so positive… Maybe I should be more like you.”

Adora’s hand slowly and gently rubbed the small of her back. Glimmer had to force herself not to arch her back — god that would be weird. This was already really weird — a good weird.

“Everyone copes with trauma differently,” Adora opined, “I just don’t want people going through what I’ve been through. I don’t want you to ever feel like you’re alone. You’ll always have me.”

 _Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god._ Glimmer’s heart was pounding after Adora told her that. She was sure Adora was able to feel her heart, too. Glimmer sunk deeper into Adora’s touch, unable to resist her musings.

“I hope you know you’ll always have me, too,” Glimmer beamed against her chest.

Her ears felt so red. Was it possible to be this flustered without having anything done to you? Just hearing sweet words emit from a beautiful girl? She would never sleep tonight, not when so close to Adora — not given the circumstances leading up to that moment.

“Kind of weird question… Have you ever thought about having kids?”

Adora’s question really caught Glimmer off guard. Still a little drunk, she almost asked, “like, with me?” Thank god, that didn’t come out of her mouth.

Having kids sounded okay. It wasn’t something she ever thought really hard about. Part of her didn’t think she would be a great mom. Her dad was the one that primarily took care of her growing up. Their adventures together were some of her most fond childhood memories. Maybe giving a kid that chance would be cool.

“I haven’t thought about it too much,” Glimmer admitted.

“I think about it a lot. I want to adopt like a lot of kids. I don’t want any kid going through what I went through. I want to give the best life I can…” Adora seemed to be in thought for a moment, “I think you’d be a good mom.”

 _What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck_ — Glimmer calmed herself, remembering Adora wasn’t talking about this in context of them being moms together. Or was she? Things weren’t very clear at that moment.

“What makes you say that?” Glimmer was curious.

“Ah… you’re considerate, you’re fun to be around - just the thought of being around you gets me up in the morning. Not to mention, you’re a great cook. I think kids like that.”

“I hope our kids like my weird cooking.”

_… Hold on._

_What did I just say? Oh my god, what did I just say? Did I_ **_really_ ** _just say that? Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god —_

Glimmer wanted to curl up and simply die. Her ears were pure red with embarrassment. While Glimmer nearly had a stroke, Adora didn’t seem too shocked. Maybe that was where Adora was going with the conversation.

“I think they would like it,” Adora was unaffected.

A painful, horrible silence befell them again. Glimmer could hear Adora’s slow breathing, evident she was getting sleepy. _Adora is sleepy, that’s why she’s saying this crap. The only reason. I think._

“Glimmer?”

The way she said her name made her stomach twist in knots even more than it already had. So gingerly, yet it was somehow stern at the same time. She could hear Adora’s heart picking up in pace. _Oh no. What is she about to tell me?_

“I… really care about you.”

 _Oh_ . Glimmer breathed a sigh of relief, convinced it was _finally_ her confession. At this rate, she would have to be the one to confess first. No use in being a coward with someone so oblivious.

“I…”

A lump formed in Glimmer’s throat — one so overbearing, it was impossible to get the words she needed to out. She could feel palpitations cursing her — _god, am I going to be okay?_

She trudged out her cowardice, “I really care about you, too..."

The lump grew stronger, to the point where she was unable to say it. _I’ve had a big fat crush on you for awhile now. Actually, honestly, probably since the day we met._

Nope. She couldn’t do it. She attempted to open her mouth, and nothing came out. _God, I’m a coward._

In her defeat, all she could say was, “I’m tired. I’m going to stop talking now.”

“Okay… goodnight Glimmer,” Adora groggily said.

“Goodnight, Adora.”

Granted, it took Glimmer a long time to fall asleep. Long after Adora’s breaths became slowed and paced was she finally able to give in to the horrible migraine plaguing her.

* * *

“Hey, Adora! Could I use your shower— oh.”

The sound of Scorpia’s voice woke Glimmer up. _Wait. Scorpia? Where the hell am I? Right. I’m at the bonfire party. I’m in Mermista’s house._ An arm was deadlocked around her stomach, holding her unfathomably close to…

Lavender eyes grew wide. _Oh, shit. What did we do last night?_ Adora began to slowly wake up, stretching out as she loudly yawned.

“Go ahead, Scorpia,” Adora seemed to be more aware of the situation.

Slowly past her migraine, her memories came flooding in. _The bonfire, the beach, beer. A lot of b’s. What else happened? Right, I almost died. Then… Adora and I slept together? There must be something else._

Nope. She remembered, she didn’t confess. Nothing happened. They just snuggled and it was really weird.

* * *

The two barely spoke that morning. Rather, they sat on the porch with the others, enjoying breakfast tacos Seahawk had made for them. At least they were kickass breakfast tacos. 

Perfuma and Scorpia sat thigh-to-thigh, laughing as they ate their breakfast tacos. Bright blushes covered their cheeks, as the two shared corny smiles with each other. At least those two definitely, undoubtedly, unquestionably fucked that night. _God, I wish that was me._

The group said their goodbyes, with Perfuma pecking Scorpia’s cheek. While walking towards Bow’s van, Adora called out to her from the porch.

“Glimmer!”

She turned to Adora, seeing her pacing forward with a cardboard food container in her hands.

“Seahawk left the leftovers out on the beach last night. There isn’t much, but you want to feed the gulls?”

It’s weird to say, but the offer of feeding stale fish to gulls was… sweet. It was minor detail during Glimmer’s rant yesterday — the details of how her and her father used to feed gulls leftover bait and such. As corny as it was, a tear formed in her eye. Adora was too kind to her.

“Of course I do.”


	6. I Kissed a Girl, and She Kissed Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, Glimmer's heart can't take much more. Scratch that, she can't handle much of anything at the moment. Shit, is she sick?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW I wonder what could possibly happen this chapter!?! 😄 Or will these two continue to be useless lesbians? Let’s find out. :--)  
> Hey, quite a few of you reached out to me on Tumblr. Thank you so much for that. Everyone’s comments are really wonderful!!! Again, thank you, thank you, thank you a thousand times over. Feel free to continue reaching out to me.  
> [My Tumblr](https://etherian-frigatebird.tumblr.com/)  
> [My Twitter](https://twitter.com/Hawluchadoras)

It was hard convincing herself to get out of bed that morning. The first day back from Spring Break was always rough, but that day felt particularly rough. Her eyes were swollen and she somehow felt hot and freezing at the same time. A cough was forced out of her throat immediately after sitting up.

Upon looking at her phone, she saw it was 8am. It was 3 hours before her class started, but she wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep. She had to make it out of bed. She would be able to trudge through Comp 2 and Calculus, then somehow make it another 6 hours through work.

She had to do it. She _could_ do it. Because at the end of the day, she got to see Adora — who made it worth trudging through each day.

After her morning routine, she made herself breakfast and sat down. As she ate her breakfast, she opened Reddit. She had set up push notifications from the Bright Moon Reddit. Despite Adora’s doubts, she wanted to know more about the maulings. Sure enough, it had appeared an update was posted by the original poster.

_“Another mauling. Please be safe.”_

Largely, the story was identical to last. A buck had been mutilated, left partially eaten in the hunting grounds near Whispering Woods. It happened before Spring Break, yet the news had just gotten to the original poster.

She saw there were a few comments on the post already. Upon scrolling down, she found a comment that had been upvoted quite a bit.

> _“OkMooner69:_
> 
> _This shit is gruesome, but I swear I’ve heard about it before, honestly as far back as five years maybe. There were several incidents with mauled coyotes near my lake house at Lake Salineas. Whoever did it tossed them near the highway to make it look like it was hit by a car. Bright Moon Tribune did some articles on it. Couldn’t find them on the internet.”_

Glimmer then got an idea. She hit reply.

> _“worlds-gayest-owl replied:_
> 
> _I know someone who probably has physical archives of the Bright Moon Tribunes. Do you remember when they published that article?”_

Within a few minutes, OkMooner69 had replied.

> _“Oh god that’d be awesome if you could find it. I would say 2017, probably sometime in the summer.”_

* * *

“Can I ask why you’re investigating violent maulings of animals?”

George Crawford, Bow’s father, had always been loving and supportive of Glimmer. She knew him and Lance saw her as a daughter, seeing as they never had one. It didn’t hurt she was majoring in history, their favorite subject. However, this was the one time where George questioned her intentions.

“Doctor Crawford, I told you. I’m just curious. I don’t think people are at risk, because our missing persons per capita is lower than the national average. Still, this is still all very strange.”

“I am slightly disturbed, but very impressed! You are so clever, Miss Kato!” George beamed.

He walked Glimmer up to a part of the library, guiding her to a rack full of archives from Bright Moon Tribune.

“Can you ballpark what year it was published?” George asked.

“2017, sometime in the summer.”

He grabbed the articles from June through September of 2017, handing them over to Glimmer.

“Good luck, Glimmer.”

* * *

It only took her about half an hour of searching through the articles. She felt fatigued, and the words kind of blurred together for her that day. Yet, sure enough, tucked behind the front pages was a story titled _“Monster at Lake Salinas?”._

_This has to be it._ She began reading the article.

_“People who live at Lake Salineas have been plagued with brutal sights lately. Coyotes and deer with torn up, graphically mutilated bodies. The photos are too graphic to print. This has been cited as a strange occurrence. The bodies have many puncture wounds, akin to the bites of a large canine._

_We looked into a history of violent occurrences in Bright Moon. Our crime rate is below the national average. Nonetheless, on January 31st, 1998, a similar mauling happened to a person. Marlena Beckett was found brutally mauled to death by an unidentified animal in Plumeria Park, which is only an hour away from Bright Moon.”_

Glimmer paused for a moment. Beckett wasn’t an incredibly common last name. She shrugged it off — this didn’t have anything to do with Adora. It _couldn't_. Right?

_“As crazy as it sounds, that isn’t the strangest part of the story. Week old Adora Beckett was found clinging to her mother’s dead body.”_

Glimmer found herself reading the sentence over and over again, each time failing to process in her mind.

_“Week old Adora Beckett was found clinging to her mother’s dead body.”_

_“Adora Beckett.”_

_“Adora.”_

She couldn’t process this. It was all a little too much. How could this curiosity into a stupid unsolved mystery lead to a connection to her own friend? What did any of this mean? How was her mother murdered?

Part of her was angry. Adora had lied to her - her parents didn’t abandon her. Yet she knew this was a deeply personal part of Adora’s life that she likely kept hidden from even those close to her. Maybe the reason this article was no longer on the internet was because Adora requested it to be taken down.

The other part of her felt miserable for digging up something so secret. She had to decide if she wanted to confront Adora about this. If she kept it a secret, she knew it would create a rift between them.

She wanted to cry, vomit, or something like that. How could Adora be so loving and happy in the same world that took her own mother from her in such a violent, cruel way? 

_“Adora, her mother and father had been reported missing a week earlier, as family and friends had not heard from them after Adora’s birth. This case remains unsolved and her father is still considered a missing person. We were able to reach out to Adora Beckett. She is now 19, and going to Bright Moon University._

_‘I have no idea what happened to my parents. If my father is still alive, it would mean the world to me to meet him. But I know that’s likely not true — that’s he’s alive, at least. I gave up on that idea a long time ago.’”_

Glimmer felt her heart sank to her chest. _Adora… is she connected to the maulings somehow? But… how?_

She wanted answers. Answers from a very blunt person.

* * *

_Oh god. Suck it up, Glimmer. Here we go._ She nervously brought her hand up to knock. Shortly after knocking, she heard a loud “thud”. Scorpia answered the door.

“Hey, Glimmer! You here to see Adora?” Scorpia asked, “She’s actually at work right now.”

“I actually came to see you, Scorpia. Could I come in?”

Scorpia was confused, but let Glimmer follow her inside the dorm. Catra was there, sitting on Adora’s bed as she glared at Glimmer. As Glimmer sat down on the bed next to her, the calico growled quietly and shifted away from her. It would take a long time for Catra to warm up to her.

“Are you doing okay, Scorpia?” Glimmer casually asked.

Scorpia smiled, warmed that Glimmer would ask, “Yeah! Thanks for inviting me to the beach-party-thing. I had a lot of fun.”

Glimmer smirked at her, “So, you and Perfuma…?”

“Oh yeah! Me and her — yeah we kind of hit it off, didn’t we?” Scorpia blushed, “We’re going on a date Friday.”

 _Damn. She’s quick. Quicker than Adora. Somehow less strange too._ It was shocking how the oblivious Scorpia hit it off so quickly with Perfuma. Perhaps it was because Perfuma was excessively straight-forward?

“Wow, that’s great!” Glimmer felt happy for the two, yet the blunt reality of her own situation had sunk back in, “Sorry to bother you… but Adora has been worrying me lately,” Glimmer admitted.

“Oh, you mean that trip she takes every month to Whispering Woods?” Scorpia said while sitting down at Adora’s desk, which was adjacent to the bed.

“Okay, you know about it, good,” Glimmer sighed, “You don’t think… she’s doing something bad, right?”

“You mean like, drugs?” Scorpia bluntly asked.

Glimmer paused, “Or something like that.”

“Adora would never do drugs. You saw her at the bonfire, she doesn’t even drink,” Scorpia crossed her arms, “She’s never told me why she doesn’t drink.”

“Did you know her at all before you became roommates?” Glimmer continued to interrogate.

“Kinda? We went to Horde Central together. But I didn’t really _know_ her, we were just in the same graduation class."

Anxiety afflicted Glimmer as she asked, “Is there anything I should know about Adora? Anything odd about her that you can think of?”

Scorpia bit her lip, as if she really shouldn’t have said what she was about to say, “Well… Hm. Check her cabinets.”

_Huh, what an odd thing to do._ It felt like she was invading Adora’s personal space to some extent. Glimmer said nothing, simply standing up and walking over to said cabinets. Hesitantly, she opened them.

To her shock, the cabinet was full of peanut butter. Jars upon jars lined a shelf, there were easy eight in total. She could hear Scorpia slowly beginning to chuckle.

“But… why?” was all Glimmer could say as she turned around.

“I think she’s just really obsessed with peanut butter,” Scorpia noted, “She goes through two jars in a week, easily. I just thought it was funny.”

Admittedly, it was one of the many cute quirks of Adora’s. She couldn’t help but smile, despite the seriousness of her business.

A sigh sounded from Glimmer as she rubbed her arm, “I’m sorry if I’m annoying… I want to figure things out about Adora.”

Scorpia could be very blunt. Very, _very_ blunt and far more unaware than Adora ever would be. What Scorpia would say to Glimmer would make her whole world — her whole existence — flip in on itself.

“Well, why don’t you ask her? Besides, she likes you, a lot.”

_She likes you._

_A lot._

_Adora… likes me?_

Well, of course she liked Glimmer. She saved her life. She trusted her. You could cut the tension between them with a knife. _Hell, that really weird talk before we fell asleep… what was that about? Talking about having kids and shit? What a bunch of useless lesbians we are. Jesus shit._

Everything made sense. The moment Adora appeared incredibly nervous as they cuddled — _jeez, that’s right, we fucking cuddled, what kind of friends do that?_ She remembered Adora’s heart racing as she told Glimmer that she cared for her. Perhaps, Adora was attempting to tell her something else but became too anxious. After all, Adora was an incredibly careful person. The only reason they didn’t kiss was because Glimmer was drunk out of her mind.

_“You’re too drunk to consent to anything right now. Maybe we can talk more when you sober up, okay?”_

She had revisited that quote before. Despite being drunk, she remembered that clear as day. The impact hadn’t truly sunk in till that moment in the dorm with Scorpia. She really fucked up that night by getting wasted. Things between the two could probably be mended by that point.

“... You know? I’m really happy for her, you know? She’s been on dates with other girls before you, but it never worked out. But you? She never shuts up about you! I'm glad you guys are together.”

 _Oh, shit. Scorpia is talking_. Scorpia had apparently been talking to Glimmer, but absolutely nothing she was saying was processing in her collapsing mind. Glimmer could feel her whole body turning red. She attempted to speak, almost panting as nothing came out. Scorpia seemed to notice, empathically staring at Glimmer.

“Are you… okay, Glimmer?”

Finally, Glimmer managed to stammer, "I… we… Scorpia, we… we aren't dating…"

_We aren’t. But maybe, we should be. Time to stop being a coward, Glimmer._

Scorpia’s eyes widened, realizing the grave mistake she just made, “Wait, she hasn’t told you yet?! I thought — you two were sleeping — oh no, what have I done?! Adora will kill—”

“Scorpia!” Glimmer interrupted, “It’s alright.”

Scorpia was surprised.

“No, it's okay. I think it's time I talk to her about it.”

* * *

Glimmer was getting sick at the idea of confronting Adora. That, or she was feeling genuinely sick. Coughing had become more frequent and disgusting. Her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. _Yeah, I’m totally sick._

The weird heat-freezing combination had turned into a full out fever over the course of the day. After barely being able to stay awake through her Composition class, she called out sick for work. Her body felt so fatigued, she was sure she would pass out in the dorm hallway.

Somehow, she made it to her room in one piece. Her body begged for sleep and something warm to drink. Possibly ten gallons of water, as well. The coughs had become more frequent — each one forcing something disgusting to shift in her throat. She almost forgot to close her door after seeing her bed, so enthralled by the sight.

Glimmer face-planted onto the bed, not caring to remove her jacket. She just wanted to sleep. However, a thought was nagging her. _Adora. Right. Fuck, can I go maybe ten seconds without her on my mind?_ Hesitantly, she flipped on her back and began texting Adora.

> _“I swear im not being petty rn. But im sick as fuck. Totally can't study today. Im sorry”_

She threw her phone down on the bed, before pulling the covers on. Her clothes felt so uncomfortable, yet she couldn’t care enough to change. Soon, sleep took over. However, it felt like only a couple of minutes later when vibrations shook the entire bed. She almost hissed at the brightness of her phone as she checked the notification.

> _“Oh no!! What’s wrong? 😰_
> 
> _I’ll be out of work soon. I can be your nurse.😉✨”_

Glimmer couldn’t feel anything emotionally at that moment, unable to appreciate Adora being cute.

> _“I think it's just a cold”_

Normally, it would take awhile for Adora to reply to texts. Yet, this one was practically instant.

> _“I’ll bring you things to help you feel better. I’ll be there ASAP!!!!!”_

Glimmer didn’t have enough energy to text again. Merely, her fatigue took over.

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock!_

A loud groan escaped Glimmer. What was really an hour felt like two minutes to Glimmer when it came to sleep. She almost tripped attempting to get out of bed, dragging her body to the door. Upon opening the door, Adora smiled brightly. She held two paper bags in her hands.

“Man, you look sick...” Adora frowned, before beaming once again, “Good thing I brought you things to make you feel better!”

Glimmer wanted to say something about how Adora didn’t have to bring her anything. However, she didn’t want to reject any help at that moment. Adora walked in, settling the bags on Glimmer’s counter. She grabbed various, albeit too many, items from the bag. Tea, a small togo container, cough medicine, cough drops… Glimmer wanted to scold her for buying too much for her.

“Since I’m really bad at cooking, I got you some soup from the cafe at work. Well, is chicken and dumplings soup?” the question was hypothetical, “Oh, I got you some tea. I told my coworker you were sick, and she told me to give you elderberry and... eck-chin-akay?" this was Adora's butchered attempt to pronounce _echinacea_ , "It’s supposed to help you feel better.”

Her concern for Glimmer was sweet. After Adora turned around, Glimmer could see the fretting frown on her face. Glimmer offered a weak smile back.

“Thank you, Adora...” Glimmer coughed before comforting Adora, “I appreciate everything… but it’s not like I’m dying. You didn’t need to buy all this for me.”

“But I want to take care of you. You want me to take care of you, right?” Adora virtually begged.

Glimmer was incapable of saying no to Adora. This is something that would prove a curse at some point in her life. Slate blue eyes focused worriedly on her. _God, why does she have to be so cute?_

“... Yeah…” Glimmer selfishly admitted, “I feel like I’m burning up, but I’m freezing at the same time…”

Adora took a few steps forward, lingering dangerously close to Glimmer. She hadn’t seen Adora since that weekend. That moment was a stark reminder of the tension between them. Adora put the back of her fingers on Glimmer’s forehead. Sternly, Adora frowned.

“You feel like you’re on fire,” Adora worried, “Sit down, I can make you some tea.”

A thought hit her. This girl, who cared so much for her, had some connection to the maulings at Whispering Woods. It couldn’t just be a coincidence.

_Is it possible… Adora is the one mauling the animals?_

The thought made her stop breathing. For a moment, she genuinely believed it was a possibility. There were too many odd connections to Adora and this case — her mother being mauled, the fact the postings on Reddit coincided with her visits to Whispering Woods… She had no other answers for the situation.

Glimmer didn’t want to believe Adora was some weird person mauling animals in the woods. Adora was good person who was incapable of drinking or being angry with her. That, and she couldn’t handle the sight of blood. The only time she had seen Adora remotely angry at her was when she was drunk, and that was understandable. She wouldn’t hurt Glimmer…

She couldn’t.

So many feelings were welling up inside her. This realization would further complicate things between them.

* * *

Glimmer sat on the couch, her blanket tucked up to her ears. She liked having Adora care for her. It felt domestic in a way, like this was her wife of many, many years. Kindly, she stayed with Glimmer and sat on the couch with her. Adora had run back to her dorm briefly to grab homework and such, giving her something to do.

Glimmer attempted the same. However, she soon found words and eventually paragraphs blurring together. Adora assured Glimmer’s tea mug was constantly full. It was tempting to rest her head on Adora’s shoulder. However, Glimmer resisted the urge.

Hours passed and the sun was beginning to set outside. That day was relatively warmer than usual. The kind of cold that didn’t quite blister your skin, but was nice to walk in with a warm jacket.

“Maybe you should get some fresh air,” Adora suggested, “The weather is okay. You have anywhere to sit on your patio?”

“There’s a bench out there, yeah.”

So, the two relocated to the patio. The wind was a bit chilly, but nothing Glimmer couldn’t handle. Not when she was wrapped in a blanket. Her small patio was a bit cluttered with various plant pots, full of crumbling sticks that were once lively herbs in autumn. Only her lavender plant remained alive, shrunken and tucked away in the corner.

She barely left enough room for an old wooden bench, scooted close near the railing. Glimmer sat down, quick to pull her knees up to her chest.

“Let me grab your tea,” Adora said, before walking back into the dorm.

Adora likes her. Likes, likes her. Adora feels the same way about her. However, Adora had lied to her — at least somewhat — about her situation. Maybe that second thing would be a future confrontation.

Perhaps right there, right at that moment would be a good time to confront Adora. Ask her how she truly feels. It could have been the cough medication Adora made her take. As Adora came back out, her heart sank. Could she really do this? Or would she be comfortable spending the rest of her life as a useless lesbian, never to date Adora?

No. She really wanted to be girlfriends, already. _Fuck it_. Adora sat down next to her on the tiny bench. She was about to say something as she placed Glimmer’s tea on the table. However, Glimmer appeared troubled — not just sick, but troubled.

“Everything okay?”

Fuck. Why did her voice have to be so gentle, so inviting? There would be times where Adora would just say her name, and it would make her heart flutter. Why did her slate blue eyes have to be impossible to look at, especially in moments like that?

Glimmer was sure she would die of a heart attack that day. Palpitations cursed her, making it hard to breathe and form words. In her nervousness, she was sure she was visibly shaking. _Why do I have to be such a coward? Why does Adora have to be one of the most unaware girls on the planet? This is a terrible combination._

After a few seconds of trying to speak, something finally murmured out of Glimmer’s mouth, “Why… do you care?”

It was a bit hard to hear, seeing as Glimmer’s voice was mildly hoarse. Adora appeared bewildered for a moment, a bit confused by the question. Glimmer felt slate blue eyes boring into her, begging for her to stare back.

“What do you mean?” Adora softly asked.

Glimmer's grip around her knees strengthened. She gulped, feeling her throat dry. Despite how difficult it proved, she managed to look Adora dead in the eyes. Adora looked genuinely worried for Glimmer.

“About… me. Why... do you care about me?” Glimmer’s voice was becoming hoarse.

It felt as if she was ready to cry. Slate blue eyes looked up and down at Glimmer, observing her state and taking in her shaking hands. Adora herself was struggling to find words. The silence between the two was deafening. All their time together since they met had led up to this moment.

Their eyes refused to tear apart from one another. Both knew what the other wanted to say — hopefully, about to say. A hefty sigh emerged from Adora.

Adora’s voice was shaky as she lamented, “I… don’t want to ruin our friendship. Glimmer, you’re the only person in my life that knows I was abandoned. It’s hard for me to trust people after all that’s happened in my life…” 

It felt wrong knowing what she knew then about Adora. Yet, telling Adora now would further complicate things. Instead, she wanted to focus on their feelings for each other.

“Fuck it,” Glimmer had to look away, tears welling in her eyes, “I-I can’t pretend anymore, Adora.”

Yet again, what Glimmer said bewildered Adora. Glimmer violently gripped the fabric of her pants, not caring that her blanket was slipping off her shoulders. It felt as if she drew blood from how strongly she gripped her nails into her legs. Adora gave Glimmer her undivided attention, unable to look anywhere but the smaller girl.

It was almost hard to understand Glimmer because of how hoarse her voice was, “Fuck, I’m shaking so hard right now just thinking about what I want to say to you,” as she spoke, she was sure she would break out crying.

Sure enough, her shaking had grown more visible. Adora remained patient, choosing not to interrupt her.

“There’s something something between us… a-and I’m tired of pretending we’re just friends…”

The only thing the two could hear was a mild gust of wind. All those cute moments of silence that were once so endearing had led to this awfully tense one — one so tense, she could feel every pound of it pressing down on her. She refused to look into those soft, inviting slate blue eyes that continued to bore into her. She wanted to say so much more, but she was sure any more words would force tears to flood from her eyes.

Then the feeling of callused fingers brushing against her leg _had_ to ruin her fragile facade.

Adora asked with confidence and genuineness in her voice, “Do you want to be something more, Glimmer?”

The beating of her heart — once so fast, it was like that of a hummingbird’s — stopped dead in its tracks. She thought she would start hyperventilating. This couldn’t be real. It was a dream. That, or it was real and it would lead nowhere. Just like at the beach, just like during their first date — all dead ends. Just the both of them being useless lesbians, denying their feelings for whatever reason.

How was she supposed to answer this? Would she selfishly answer, “Hell fucking yeah”? It concerned Adora how long it took for Glimmer to even show signs of life. Slowly but surely, she began to turn her head towards Adora.

Lavender eyes looked into slate blue ones. This oblivious, polite, kind girl that had changed her life for the better. Granted, she was full of mysteries Glimmer had yet to solve. However, she could find out eventually. Things would work out between them. Slowly, a comforting smile formed on Glimmer’s lips. Her stomach was doing backflips, and her whole body was flushed.

Feeling more confident, she put her feet on the ground and scooted subtly closer to Adora.

She felt like she had to formally confirm, knowing how cordial and oblivious Adora could be, “Yes. I want to be your girlfriend, Adora.”

Glimmer had no regrets. Nothing felt better than to rip that metaphorical bandage off. Glimmer could feel her nervousness lifted from her body, dissipating into that of fluttering endearment. That stupid, dumb smile — just like the one she had when they first met — was plastered haughtily on Glimmer’s face. Adora reflected the same smile, her cheeks become rosy at the proposal.

A tear fell down Glimmer’s cheek. Sweetly, Adora reached out to cup Glimmer’s cheek and brush the tear away.

“Why are you crying, silly?” Adora softly laughed.

Glimmer shakily clutched the hand on her cheek. Everything felt so right. What was once pure anxiety had transformed into utter happiness so quickly. All that trouble she had to hurdle past in order to get to that moment was worth it. Finally, the tension between the two had been broken.

Glimmer wanted to kiss her so badly. Lavender eyes kept hovering of her soft lips, wanting to know so badly how they would feel. Finally, she had permission to touch Adora now. It felt like too much power for one person. Just like when they were about to kiss at the beach, she traced Adora’s jawline.

A hearty yet soft laugh sounded from Glimmer, “I’m… relieved.”

The tension that was once between them had been slowly replaced by a new sort of tension. She could see Adora’s eyes focusing on her lips. The two had their hands on the other’s cheek. The moment seemed right, it seemed _perfect_. Naturally, the two began to gravitate towards each other.

Adora had a confident, suave smirk, as she enticingly mumbled, “Yeah?”

Part of her anxiety told her this wouldn’t happen — that something would interrupt the two. Her heart was ready to leap out of her chest as Adora tipped her chin up. Their thighs were touching — every touch felt like electricity through her veins. It was killing her. She couldn’t take it anymore.

She closed the gap between them, kissing Adora. Nothing had ever felt so right. Things between them felt so real, so powerful, so beautiful. Nothing stopped them — Adora didn’t stop. No bullshit excuses anymore. Glimmer was able to forget about all the weird shit about Adora for that moment. Fuck, did it matter anymore?

She wanted to melt in Adora’s touch. Nobody had ever made her feel so wonderful and exhilarated. Finally, she was able to run her fingers through Adora’s undercut. It tickled her fingers as she brushed through it.

“This… this is neat,” Glimmer admitted.

An overwhelming feeling in her chest distracted her. It wasn’t some sappy love feeling, rather a gross reminder of Glimmer’s condition — it was a cough forming in her throat again! A gasp escaped her, as she broke away from Adora.

“Adora! Remember?! I’m sick!” Glimmer reminded her.

Adora laughed, smiling at her girlfriend, “Oh, right. I’m sure I’ll be fine. At least we got to kiss, huh… honey?”

Glimmer snorted, putting her hand on Adora’s thigh as she laughed, “Okay, already with the endearing pet names?”

“S-Sorry… It’s been awhile since I’ve been in a relationship,” Adora admitted.

“It’s alright… we can figure things out together,” Glimmer assured her.

At least, she hoped. She didn’t think about that as they watched the sunset. Nor when they fell asleep together that night.

All she could think about was the fact that Adora was finally her girlfriend.


	7. Ivy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every couple has their honeymoon period. It helps Glimmer forget; what's the problem between her and Adora?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW!!! 100+ Kudos and 1000+ hits!!! Thank you SO MUCH!!! I really don't have much to say besides I love everyone who has supported me thus far. Thank you so so so so so so so so so so so so much!!!! Especially to the people over at the Glimadora discord. :D
> 
> I think you guys will either love or hate this chapter. Content warning for this chapter: sexual content and blood. I should include language in there too since Glimmer [(canonically, may I add)](https://twitter.com/gingerhazing/status/1217883733782482944) curses like a sailor. But if you're this far in the story, you're probably not offended by it.  
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Even though spring had technically started a few weeks ago, it had taken till the second week in April for the daffodils to start popping up. There seemed to be a little more color in Brightmoon, especially for Glimmer. It had almost been a full week since Adora and her became official. Things still hadn’t sunk in for her.

“Earth to Glimmer? Hellooooo~?” Mermista’s voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard at that moment.

Right. She had promised to help Seahawk, Bow, and Mermista this weekend. There was a spring celebration festival downtown. The line to Seahawk’s food truck would be around the block soon. Thankfully, Glimmer was stuck with taking orders from outside the truck with Mermista. She was more thankful that she wouldn’t smell like fish.

Which was great, seeing she planned on going out on a date with Adora afterwards. She could trudge through the afternoon easily with the future in mind.

“You’ve been spaced out more than usual,” Mermista monotoned, “Everything alright with you and Adora?”

Glimmer was absolutely shocked, “Wow, you called her Adora.”

Mermista seemed surprised at the revelation, “Um, yeah, because you said you weren’t dating her.”

She wanted to run her hand through her face and sigh. Mermista was the second most difficult human being to deal with. Number one of course was her mother. 

Instead of showing her frustration, she replied with, “We… are. Now.”

Mermista looked a bit surprised, with the little ability she had to emote, “Dang. That took a while. Hey, totally not changing the subject, but I’m reforming the Queen Eiders. Turns out Scorpia can play drums.”

The Queen Eiders was a band Mermista attempted to form with Glimmer and their friends, until they realized none of them knew percussion in any form.

“If you ever wanna be back up vocals or play your guitar, that’s cool too,” Mermista said.

Glimmer hadn’t played in awhile. Her guitar sat in her closet, collecting dust. She was starting to lose the calluses on her fingertips that would normally help her play guitar. Music was once part of her identity, but she had started to fall away from it after high school. Perhaps it was time for her to get back into playing guitar.

Because now, she had a reason to play. _Fuck, shut up, Glimmer._ Withal, a ping of nervousness bothered her. Adora would potentially be watching her. She wanted to refresh and practice awhile before Adora could watch her perform.

For the time being, Glimmer replied, “Maybe not this time… I’ll think about it.”

* * *

After the festival had ended, she planned to meet Adora up at the nearby park — the same one where they had fed the ducks awhile back. Sure enough Adora was there, waiting in the parking lot near her motorcycle. Upon Adora seeing her girlfriend from afar, she vibrantly smiled and waved.

“Hi, sweetheart!” Adora hollered.

The pet name made her blush. They had been dating for almost a week at that point, yet she still found herself blushing around Adora. Once she was close, Adora approached her. Their height difference was significant enough to require Adora to bend down in order to kiss her. It was rather cute how eager Adora was.

To Glimmer’s disappointment, the kiss was brief. Despite the quickness of the kiss, Glimmer still found herself short of breath.

Glimmer beamed, “Well, hi.”

Admittedly, Glimmer was excited too. Notably since this was their first official date together as girlfriends.

“Oh! Guess what?! I found my old helmet,” Adora motioned to a second helmet locked to her motorcycle, “That means you’ll be able to ride with me now.”

For a moment, the words “ride” and “me” stuck out to Glimmer. Granted, she could become an idiot around Adora. It was notable that she had been on her feet for most of the day. Frankly, she was exhausted. However, her exhaustion was put aside — overridden by the excitement she felt. She got to spend the rest of the day with Adora!

Before Glimmer could thank her, Adora began searching through the back compartment of her motorcycle, “I-I also got you something else,” Adora stammered in her excitement.

Both were oddly on edge and jittery. It was only natural that they were still a little anxious around each other. They were still earnest from finally becoming official.

Adora pulled out the other gift, “Some peas!”

She held out the bag of frozen peas to Glimmer, who gladly accepted them, “You want to feed the ducks?”

“Yeah!”

For a moment, they paused. Before their relationship, silence between them felt so tense. There and then, silence gave Adora a moment to enjoy her girlfriend. Slate blue eyes explored up and down Glimmer. Adora shifted in the minimal space between them before resting her hand on Glimmer’s shoulder.

“I would be lying if I said I _haven’t_ been thinking about you all day,” Adora shook her head, quick to refute her own claim, “No, scratch that. All week.”

“I… I have too,” Glimmer abruptly correct herself with a stammer, “I-I mean, thinking about you, of course.”

Restlessly, Glimmer stood on the tip of her feet to plant a kiss on Adora’s lips. The action forced Adora to laugh.

“That’s so cute?” Adora heartily giggled, “You’re so short, you have to stand up on your tippy-toes to kiss me.”

Glimmer reflected the laughter as she backed away, “And you’re so tall, you look like a giraffe bending down to drink water when you kiss me.”

Finding the comment comedic, Adora laughed until she snorted. Glimmer still found it cute, just as much as the first day they met. Actually, probably even more than the first day they met. Adora had blossomed into someone so important in her life. 

They began walking, relatively silent. She couldn’t help but notice Adora’s eyes flashing constantly to her hands.

Eventually, Adora broke the silence with a question, “Am I allowed to hold your hand?”

The way Adora asked her for things was awfully sweet. Something as simple as taking care of her when she was sick was asked with the same sweet innocence. Yet again, Glimmer was absolutely incapable of saying no. Why would she say no to holding Adora’s hand? Rather than answering immediately, she entwined her fingers with Adora’s.

“Of course you are, silly,” Glimmer beamed.

Adora’s hand was notably larger compared to her own. She never really noticed until that moment. Her callused palm felt so peculiarly nice. Butterflies tore up her stomach and her face was flushed.

“Wow, your hand is so soft!” Adora enthusiastically noted.

Adora never realized how cute she sounded when she said innocent things like that. It was so accidentally charming. Glimmer ran her fingers through her own hair, blushing as Adora held on tighter to her hand. They continued to walk in the park. Violas and daffodils bloomed throughout the park. Some of the trees were beginning to bud. Cardinals sang loudly. Spring was truly around the corner.

Things were deeply innocent and excitable for the both of them. Nonetheless, Glimmer realized it couldn’t go on for long. For a moment, her mind sunk back into that horrible hole. She realized that at some point, Adora would have to go back to Whispering Woods.

Perhaps now that they were dating, Adora would tell her what was happening. That would be a confrontation for later. Why create conflict when things were going so well? Instead of asking her about Whispering Woods or bringing up the article she read, a different question came to mind.

Glimmer softly called out, “Adora?”

Adora looked over at her, “Hm?”

Bashfully, Glimmer asked, “When did you know you liked me?”

Cornily, she vibrantly smirked and blushed at the question. Adora’s hand grasped at her own chin, as she appeared to be deep in thought.

“Ah… I think that day you brought me that cold brew after that shit day I had,” Adora affirmed, her blush still remarkable.

The answer surprised her a bit. Frankly, she didn’t think it would’ve been so early on in their timeline. Damn, they were a couple of useless lesbians.

“That’s… that’s when I knew I liked you too…” Glimmer’s eyes drifted away from Adora’s as she felt flustered.

Someone with a dog walked by. Normally, Glimmer would be excited and ask politely if she could pet the dog. However, the malamute suddenly became enraged. Viciously, it barked with its eyes dead set on Adora. The stranger strongly pulled at her dog.

“S-Sorry,” the stranger apologized, “She never barks at strangers! Just other dogs!”

The two continued walking on, ignoring the dog as she continued to bark at Adora. Eventually, they looked at each other with worried faces.

“I think she just called you a bitch,” Glimmer joked.

Adora appeared nervous. The grasp of their hands tightened, as she anxiously laughed.

“Usually it’s customers that call me that,” Adora quipped back.

Glimmer didn’t think much of it at the time. The two continued on their date, enjoying their time at the park and appreciating the decent weather.

Not to mention, the ride back to the university was enthralling. Glimmer secretly found solace pressed against Adora’s back while they rode the motorcycle.

* * *

Slowly, Adora had started to sleep more and more with Glimmer. Despite the bed being a bit small for them, snuggling was still optimal. Besides, it felt so nice. Having Adora’s legs tangled in her own. A toned arm wrapped around her, holding onto one of her hands. Adora’s chest pressed up against her own, minimizing the space between them. The feeling of safety and comfort she had felt with Adora at the beach was present again.

The weird connections between Adora and the maulings was largely absent from her thoughts. Perhaps it was because she was foolishly enamored. Where once she thought it was a possibility Adora was the one mauling the animals, she now couldn’t imagine Adora ever hurting anything. Not when things felt so safe and right with Adora.

“Glim, you still awake?” Adora whispered.

Glimmer shifted against Adora, scooting closer in the minimal space between them, “Mmm?”

Adora sternly confessed, “I… should tell you something.”

Glimmer’s eyes shot open. Out of curiosity, she shifted to lay on her other side. Now she was face to face with Adora. As they looked into each others eyes, she breezed her fingers across Adora’s shoulder. _What a subtle way to appreciate her arms!_

“Yeah?” Glimmer whispered back.

Adora appeared nervous as she reflected the same gentle touch, instead breezing her fingers along Glimmer’s cheek. Slowly, she ran her hand through Glimmer’s short hair. Abruptly, Adora idiotically smiled.

“I just wanted to say… I’ve always loved your hair,” Adora complimented.

Glimmer laughed at the juxtaposition. Adora had sounded so serious initially. However, it was all to simply compliment her. Glimmer’s eyes drifted to Adora’s arms.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to say how much I love your arms,” Glimmer flirted.

Adora appeared flustered at the comment, “M-My arms?”

“I know that’s a silly thing to say, huh?” Glimmer clarified.

“Nobody has ever complimented my arms before. What am I supposed to think?” Adora innocently asked.

“I can’t say anyone has complimented _my_ arms before, so I don’t know either,” Glimmer laughed.

Adora was so cute. Scratch that, she was so… perfect. The way she spoke so naively, borderline-idiotically at times — despite being such an intelligent, well-meaning person. How she always found ways to make Glimmer happy, regardless of the situation or how she was feeling. Glimmer still found it so charming how excited she got over little things, like feeding ducks and Glimmer’s hair.

It was like she had no choice but to kiss Adora that very instant. Glimmer laughed against Adora’s lips. As they backed away from the kiss, Adora bore into her with flirtatious eyes. Glimmer gasped as Adora grasped her chin.

The air between them began to feel different after Adora murmured, “I… I love your body, Glimmer.”

Dead silence. Glimmer found herself absolutely lost for words at the compliment. That was something no one had ever said to her. She had never been too dysphoric about her image. However, hearing Adora compliment her like that was unexpected and welcomed.

Adora continued on, “You have a nice figure. I’d love to see more of it.”

There went her image of Adora being innocent and naive. Adora had always been capable of being suave. However, _this_ level of suaveness only existed in her daydreams. Wild emotions crowded her thoughts as Adora’s hand drifted to her hip. Steam virtually ejected from her ears. Could someone have a heart attack because of something like... this?

Personally, Glimmer wasn’t ready for it and she frantically generated an excuse, “C’mon, go to bed. You have work in the morning.”

Adora looked disappointed, “Aw… fine.”

Quickly, Glimmer turned back around. She desperately hoped Adora couldn’t feel her fluttering heart shaking the bed. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around it — Adora wanted to do _that_ with her.

Things had evolved from a mere crush.

* * *

It felt like such an Adora thing to eat frozen yogurt when it was still so cold out. However, it was Glimmer who suggested the trip to the frozen yogurt place. It was late on a Tuesday night, after Glimmer had gotten out of work. Thankfully, the place was still open.

Adora got strawberry flavor. Normally, Adora didn’t enjoy sweet things. However, each bite of the frozen yogurt made her smile. Slate blue eyes broadened excitedly. It was rude to stare at someone so long while they ate, but Glimmer couldn’t help it. Glimmer leaned over the small table, resting her chin on her hand.

“Can I tell you something?” Adora suddenly asked.

Déjà vu hit Glimmer. This was eerily similar to the talk they had before they fell asleep the other night. 

“Of course,” Glimmer beamed.

Adora appeared nervous, shifting in her seat, “I’ve never had frozen yogurt.”

Glimmer couldn’t help but giggle a little, “I’m sorry, why did you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you were confessing to a murder.”

Adora appeared to ease a little, “Well, we’re in a frozen yogurt restaurant."

Glimmer’s laughter returned for a moment before she asked, “Did you think someone would get offended?”

“I guess? I don’t know,” Adora herself began to laugh.

Even when she ate yogurt, she was charming.

* * *

Studying had become more distracting. Having your girlfriend as a study partner is great. On the other hand, it was hard not to look at her. Especially when her hair was down. God, she loved it when Adora had her hair down. She loved how wavy her dirty blonde hair was — how it looked golden in the right lighting.

The two sat on Glimmer’s couch. Well, Glimmer lied down while resting her head on Adora’s thigh. From that angle, she could truly admire her girlfriend. Really take in the sight of her toned arms. Adora did a cute thing where she would scrunch her face sometimes when reading — something she failed to notice before. Adora herself failed to notice how long Glimmer had been staring at her.

Glimmer gave into temptation, sitting up and planting a kiss on Adora’s cheek. As she lied back on Adora’s thigh, Adora looked down upon her. She put her textbook down for a moment, smiling as she did.

“Yes?”

“You looked so serious,” Glimmer cutely laughed.

Suddenly, Adora grabbed her chin in order to tilt her head up. She bent down to plant a kiss on Glimmer’s lips. Happily, Glimmer smiled against her lips. Each kiss still made her feel like a captivated idiot. To Glimmer’s disappointment, Adora backed away from the kiss.

“You looked too cute, I had to kiss you,” Adora flirted, “... and I might have to do it again.”

Again, Adora bent down to kiss Glimmer. The hand that was once on her chin went to rest on her stomach. Glimmer was quick to hold onto it with both her hands, admiring the rough texture of her palms. The kiss was longer than the last, with a more tense feeling between the two than the last. To her embarrassment, she sighed into Adora’s lips.

Suddenly, Adora broke away in order to kiss her neck.

_Oh. Wow, okay._

It was a completely new feeling with Adora, a new kind of tension of sorts. Drunken by her touch, Glimmer couldn't help but sigh dreamily. That tension skyrocketed once Adora’s hand moved to her side. In her flustered state, Glimmer hiked her legs and softly laughed. Her face felt hot, more than it usually did when Adora kissed her.

“D-Don’t you need to study?” Glimmer bashfully stuttered.

To Glimmer’s surprise, Adora reached underneath her. With her arms wrapped around Glimmer, she stood up while carrying her bridal style. The move made Glimmer laugh, but ultimately she was swooned by the action. Adora picked her up so effortlessly. Cradled by Adora, she was truly able to admire her. In her admiration, Glimmer traced the outline of Adora’s jaw. Something she had done many times before. Yet, Adora herself appeared to be enthralled by Glimmer’s touch.

“That’s it, you’re too cute and distracting,” Adora suavely professed.

“What are you going to do to me? Kick me out of my own room?” Glimmer teased back with the same amount of flirtation.

“No. I was thinking we could study for anatomy,” Adora’s flirtatious tone remained.

Glimmer paused a moment, geniuely confused, “But I don’t have anatomy…?”

It took a moment for Glimmer to connect things. Adora looked at her with a madly flirtatious, suave smile. Immediately after she realized what Adora was suggesting, Glimmer’s eyes grew wide. Adora was supposed to be the oblivious one, not her. A blush was now covering every inch of her body, she was sure of it. Just like last night, she was frozen once again.

She felt as if she would begin to melt. _How am I supposed to reply to something like that? I don’t think I’m capable of speaking right now._

Sure enough, upon attempting to speak, all she could get out was, “O-Oh… I-I-I… um…”

She was so completely and utterly swooned. Without much effort, Adora had turned her into an absolute, stuttering hot mess. Adora’s lips crashed against her own once again and Glimmer forgot everything.

At least some of Glimmer’s unresolved feelings were quelled by Adora that night.

* * *

How are you supposed to function after a night like that? How do you sit in class next to someone that absolutely railed you the night before? These thoughts tortured her mind. For once, she was thankful not to wake up next to Adora, who had already gotten up for class earlier that morning.

Getting out of bed felt dissociative. Distracted by her spaced out thoughts, she overcooked her first attempt at eggs. Glimmer would likely find a way to overcook her tea water as well. Spaced out beyond belief, she found herself endlessly scrolling through Reddit once again.

She was brought out of her weird trance upon seeing a post titled, _“Man murdered in Whispering Woods”_.

Lavender eyes danced across the title. Truthfully and deep down, she expected this day to come. However, she didn’t think it would come so quickly. Hesitantly, she tapped the post.

> _“A man was murdered in Whispering Woods. Two hikers spotted his body last night and quickly alerted park officials. According to police, his injuries are consistent to that of a bear mauling. The murder was thought to have occurred three days prior. Park officials have posted warnings around the park.”_

Suddenly, she pieced together something in her head. It had been a month since Adora last left for Whispering Woods.

Glimmer had a horrible, dreadful feeling about all this.

* * *

Adora was completely casual, paying attention and writing notes like nothing happened the night before. As if there wasn’t a man who had been mauled at Whispering Woods. Adora was wonderful at controlling her emotions, while Glimmer was not.

Even after class as they walked between buildings holding hands, Adora seemed so composed. That was until she suddenly frowned, seeming to be bothered by something.

“I… should’ve told you earlier,” Adora was hesitant to tell Glimmer, “I have to go to Whispering Woods tomorrow. I know you wanted to go out, but I can’t. I’m sorry.”

With that, Glimmer’s mind began to spiral again for the first time in weeks. Ever since they started dating, it was as if Glimmer temporarily forgot all the weird shit with Adora. That, or she wanted to pretend it wasn’t happening. Being with her was enthralling and mesmerizing, and it was easy to put aside the bad things about her.

Glimmer stopped walking, catching Adora’s attention. It was as if Glimmer’s mind was failing to walk and process everything at the same time. She was angry with herself for forgetting. She wouldn’t let Adora get away with it anymore. Adora looked down at her with worried eyes.

“Glim?”

Adora’s voice was beckoning her to exit her trance. The stronger girl’s hand squeezed her own, begging for her attention. Glimmer didn’t want to lose someone else that had grown so important to her. She couldn’t do that again, ever.

“Adora… someone was murdered there this week… You can’t go…”

Adora avoided eye contact as she eased her grip on Glimmer’s hand. Her jaw tightened, and it was clear what the answer would be.

To Glimmer’s disappointment, Adora answered, “I know… But, I have to, Glimmer. I can take care of myself.”

Something snapped inside Glimmer. All their trust the two had spent _months_ building up was suddenly broken at that moment. For the first time, Glimmer felt truly mad at Adora. It felt as if steam would eject from her ears, she felt so angry. She was tired of Adora pushing her away.

This was the final straw.

“Sure, Adora,” Glimmer bitterly jeered.

She took her hand away from Adora, shocking her into finally giving her eye contact. Glimmer wouldn’t give into her anymore. Cruelly, she merely walked away without a word, purposely bumping into Adora’s shoulder as she did. She wanted to leave her alone to think about the consequences of her actions.

“Glimmer!” Adora attempted to call out.

However, she realized Glimmer needed her space. At the time, she chose not to impede.

Things between the two would soon come crashing down.

* * *

All her anger had built up, unable to escape. Adora said it herself, that Glimmer was the first person she had trusted in a long time. It infuriated her to no end that she still didn't know what was wrong or what Adora did every month at the Whispering Woods.

They hadn’t spoken since yesterday. Adora had texted her, but the messages were ignored — not even read by Glimmer. Physical, face-to-face confrontation was the only way for Glimmer to fix things. She was able to find Adora’s motorcycle in the parking lot. It was getting late and the sun was starting to set. Glimmer would wait all day for Adora if she had to.

Eventually, Adora showed up with a full hiking bag. Upon seeing Glimmer from far away, Adora frowned — absolutely aware of what was about to happen. Despite being a bit far away, Adora could pick up the signals. Glimmer’s arms were crossed and her eyebrows sunk. Angrily, she gripped the cloth of her sleeves as Adora approached her.

Venom practically spat from Glimmer as she jeered, “Finally showed up, huh?”

Adora knew she was defeated before the argument even began. The fatigued look on her face made Glimmer want to let up. Nonetheless, anger beckoned her to let everything out.

"Why do you do it, Adora? Every month, you fall off the face of the planet. I don't know where you go, Scorpia doesn't either,” Glimmer ranted, her words blurring together because of how fast she spoke, “Goddamn, someone was fucking _murdered_ there, Adora! It’s fucking stupid to go there right now!”

"I can't tell you yet, Glimmer… I—"

"So when _will_ you tell me?! I thought we trusted each other!” Glimmer retorted, stepping closer to Adora.

"I… I do trust you Glimmer. It’s not about trust. I can’t tell you right now, please… I need to go,” Adora urged with desperation in her voice.

"What are you doing that is so bad, you can’t tell me? You’re doing drugs, aren’t you?!” Glimmered angrily scowled, taking another step forward.

"No! Glimmer, I wouldn't hide something like that from you!" Adora sounded hoarse, as if ready to cry.

"But you are hiding things from me!” Glimmer hesitated, knowing the potential impact about what she was about to reveal, “I found an article about you. Why would you lie about being abandoned?! Why can’t you trust me?!”

Astonishment replaced desperation in Adora. Glimmer couldn’t tell if Adora was upset with her or not. Frankly, at that moment, her anger was controlling her and she didn’t care.

“You…” Adora gulped, “How did you find out? You weren’t supposed to find out.”

“I wasn’t supposed to?!” Glimmer fumed, “Hello?! You did a fucking interview!”

Now, Adora was clearly upset with Glimmer. A hefty sigh emerged from Adora.

“I thought it would help me find my father. All I got was people harassing me with stupid theories,” Adora spoke with mild anger, “I told them to take it down. And now… I don’t want people I know finding out. I just want people to see me as for me. Not as the girl whose mother was murdered.”

Every cell in Glimmer body was trying desperately to calm her down. Maybe she shouldn’t be so explosive to the clearly upset Adora. However, this anger had been building up secretly for a long time. She needed to get things out.

“I see you for you, Adora! I always have. But…” Glimmer gulped, as her throat grew dry, “Tell me, Adora. Why can’t I — your fucking _girlfriend_ — know what you’re doing?! It feels like you don’t trust me at all!”

Tears began to well up in her eyes. _Fuck, why am I staying with her?_ This wasn’t good for her. Staying with someone who did such questionable things. Yet, she wanted so badly for things between them to be okay. As overly attached as it sounds, she couldn’t imagine her life without Adora. Adora remained silent, too overwhelmed with guilt to speak. Glimmer shifted away, turning her back. She wouldn’t let Adora see her weak, not at that moment.

Glimmer sniffled, before murmuring, “I hope you feel like shit right now, Adora, because I certainly do…”

Suddenly, the feeling of callused hands brushing the small of her back eased her. Adora’s touch was just too inviting, too soft, too sweet… She wanted so badly for things to be alright. For her to be able to just melt into Adora’s touch and go back to pretending none of this shady shit was happening. It was just becoming too much for Glimmer.

“Sweetheart… Please… I need to go… I’m sorry. I promise I’ll make it up to you,” Adora sweetly mused as she continued to rub her back.

She wanted to give in. To turn around and kiss Adora. Withal, that would fail to fix things. In the spur of her anger, Glimmer turned back around. Adora and her were almost nose-to-nose. Before, Glimmer was angry. At that particular moment, Glimmer was _pissed_.

“You think we can just hug our feelings out?! That you’ll just fuck me to make me forget all this shit?!” tears streamed from her eyes as she bantered, “Goddamnit, Adora! I want you to tell me what you’re doing! Please, Adora! I don’t want to lose you!”

Something finally snapped in Adora. Maybe it had just accumulated to that moment. Nothing Glimmer had said at that moment was an attack, unlike some of her previous statements. Adora’s worry turned into defensive retaliation. Her eyebrows hiked down as she gritted her teeth. Clearly enraged, she hunched closer to Glimmer’s level.

Adora hissed with extraordinary venom, “You don’t get it, do you?! I can’t lose you, either!”

What were normally slate blue eyes were nearly black — seeing they were incredibly dilated. They were so physically close at that moment. Glimmer could feel every inch of the tension between them boring down on her.

How did things get so fucked up so quickly?

And why did she want to lean forward and kiss Adora?

Adora was still furious, fuming, “You think that I’m being unreasonable, huh?! We’ve only been dating for two weeks and you suddenly think you deserve to know everything about me?!”

The moment before Adora spoke, Glimmer thought about trying to find a neutral ground. However, what she said felt like a personal attack. It was as if Adora knew exactly how to get under her skin. Glimmer could feel herself shaking thinking about what she was about to say.

“How come every time after you go to Whispering Woods, animals are mauled?!”

Adora paused for a moment, letting what Glimmer said sink in. She appeared shocked by the statement, but quickly shook it off, “T-That’s not me, Glimmer! Why would you say something like that?!”

Glimmer growled, “Then what _are_ you doing?! Give me a fucking answer or stay away from me!”

Glimmer attempted to raise her hand to cover her mouth, seeing she could feel herself about to sob. She was unable to explain what happened next. It appeared Adora misinterpreted the motion as her attempting to push her away, or slap her. Glimmer would never do either of those things. Yet, in the heat of the moment, she could see why Adora would think that.

With near superhuman reaction time, Adora reached out to her wrist. The grip she had on Glimmer was strong, but not enough to hurt her. Soon after, Adora’s pupils had become even more dilated. What was even stranger was how Adora was _panting_.

“Were you…” Adora breathed out, attempting to calm herself down, “... going to push me?”

Absolutely _nothing_ in her mind could explain what happened next. It was a visual she went through a thousand times later in the night, genuinely unable to explain what happened.

Adora’s nails were growing long and black.

Glimmer felt like a deer in the headlights, utterly shocked and immoblized by the sight. Adora appeared too enraged to notice what was happening. It was as if she was in some sort of trance. Suddenly, the claws were piercing Glimmer’s skin. Clearly, Adora wasn’t intentionally doing it — but it still hurt.

Glimmer attempting to escape the grasp, only for Adora to grasp on tighter. This time, the grip was beginning to hurt. Tears flooded Glimmer’s eyes.

Why was she suddenly afraid of Adora?

“No! A-Adora, please! You’re hurting me!”

Those words appeared to snap her out of her trance immediately. The near bruising grip on Glimmer’s wrist eased. Suddenly, Adora’s anxious, submissive demeanor was back. Slowly, her eyes drifted down to Glimmer’s hand. A shaken, frightened gasp escaped her lips.

Glimmer blinked, and Adora’s nails were suddenly normal again. Slate blue eyes were dead set on the sight of blood, oozing out of the small scratches on her hand. Gulit burdened Adora, as she gulped. Once again, her eyes slowly moved — this time, moving up to Glimmer’s. And again, a gasp escaped her.

Glimmer was afraid of her.

Immediately, Adora let go of Glimmer’s hand. Tears were beginning to tickle out of Adora as she backed away.

“I… hurt you…” Adora quietly and delicately murmured, “I… scared you... I’m… so sorry, Glimmer… It’s starting already.”

Glimmer had never seen someone so guilt-ridden in her life. It was as if every ounce of Adora’s soul had left her body. Tears continued to flow out of Glimmer’s eyes, fully realizing this was related to everything — Whispering Woods, her being so cryptic, her leaving every month. Like so many times since they had met, what Adora said made millions of questions pop in Glimmer’s mind.

The only question she managed to cry out was, “What the fuck is going on?! Please, for the love of god, tell me!”

“I’m sorry, I have to go,” Adora frantically slurred.

Quickly, Glimmer reached out to Adora’s hand, the same one that had dug into her, “No, Adora, please stay with me! Please explain what’s going on with you!” Glimmer pleaded.

Adora was easily able to slip out of Glimmer’s grip. In the spur of the moment, Adora mounted her motorcycle. She looked at Glimmer once more with painful guilt before slipping her helmet on.

“I’m so sorry, Glimmer…” Adora whispered, her voice hoarse, "I can't be around you..."

Then she was gone, just like that. For the second time, Adora had broken Glimmer’s heart.

* * *

Glimmer couldn’t stop crying. It had been well over an hour since the confrontation in the parking lot. Nonetheless, tears kept streaming down her face. It felt humiliating and embarrassing. Why was she so heartbroken over a girl she had only been dating for two weeks?

Maybe because things felt so right with Adora. Every kiss still felt like fireworks. Small things would cause Glimmer to profusely blush. Butteflies to manifest inside her. Above all else, Adora made her happy. Moreover, _she_ made Adora happy. Even when things were so fucked up, even with the distance between them being the size of a planet — things _still_ felt right with Adora.

A bit fucked up, huh?

It took her ages to finally bandage the scratches on her hand. None of them were deep and would be okay in the morning. She wouldn’t feel any better moping around. Eventually, she pulled her phone out, texting Bow and asking him to come over. Not too long after texting him, Bow was knocking at her door. Upon opening it, Bow worriedly looked at her.

“Jesus, what happened?” Bow asked.

“I… come inside, please,” Glimmer whispered, not having the energy to speak loudly.

They sat on the couch, awkwardly silent for a few minutes. Bow was giving her time to form her words.

Finally, Glimmer broke the silence, “Adora… is a wonderful girlfriend, don’t get me wrong,” Glimmer feebly smiled, “She feels like a part of me that’s been missing. I can’t explain it, Bow. There’s something about her that feels so… right.”

Bow sat silently, letting Glimmer take her time. She brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly.

“But…” Glimmer’s voice grew creaky, “There’s something strange she’s been doing… I don’t feel like explaining everything now. I just need to take my mind off of her.”

To be honest, she had no clue how to explain it all to Bow. Glimmer herself couldn’t find an explanation for what happened earlier. Bow rubbed his hand on her back. Feebly, he reassured her with a smile.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Bow asked.

“Yeah… I’m sure,” Glimmer murmured, “I just need to be around someone.”

“How about we go get frozen yogurt? That’s something to distract you,” Bow suggested.

She couldn’t help but smile at Bow. He was a good friend to her. Things with Bow were so simple, and he knew how to cheer her up. Eating frozen yogurt was the perfect temporary cure. For awhile, it did help her take her mind off Adora - despite having been to the same frozen yogurt restaurant just a couple days before. Eating frozen yogurt while talking to her best friend did wonders.

However, once she got back to her dorm, she couldn’t help but fall into her thoughts once again. For the first time in a long time, she cried herself to sleep.

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock!_

The loud, abrasive knock ringed in Glimmer’s ears, forcing her to wake up. It was morning, at least she thought. The sun was brightly shining in her dorm. Hesitantly, she got out of her bed. Her head ached as she stood and her eyes felt swollen. As she dragged herself to the door, she began to remember what happened yesterday. 

Adora broke her heart. Again. Yet, her dumbass would eventually fall right back into Adora’s arms. She knew fully well who would be waiting for her outside.

Sure enough, the taller girl stood outside her door. In her hands, she held a bouquet of sunflowers. In any other situation, the sight would be welcomed and charming. She wasn’t ready to handle Adora emotionally, not again. Glimmer wanted space.

Adora could read every bit of anger on Glimmer’s face.

In her anger, Glimmer attempted to shut the door on Adora. However, Adora quickly put her foot in the door to prevent it from being slammed on her. Bitterly, Glimmer glared at her with fatigued eyes. Adora’s gaze, that was usually confident and suave around Glimmer, was weak and begging for forgiveness.

“Glimmer… please—”

Venomously, Glimmer interrupted Adora, “If you think you can win me over—”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m trying to do!” Adora frenziedly rebutted, “I broke your trust and I’ve been wrong to keep things from you…” Adora shakily breathed before she hoarsely said, “And I am so… so sorry I lost my temper. I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you.”

Adora was hurting just as much as she was. Perhaps Glimmer had been too angry and misunderstanding of Adora.

Adora continued, “I understand if you want to end things with me.”

Her vicious glare on Adora faded, and her strong grip on the door eased. So many emotions were exchanged in their gaze. Glimmer had to look away for a moment.

“No, Adora. I was wrong to get so angry at you, too,” Glimmer apologized, still unable to look up at Adora, “... All I want is for you to explain what happened yesterday.”

“That’s why I came here, Glimmer.”

The statement made her look up at Adora, genuinely surprised. Slowly, she began to creak the door open.

“I want to explain everything. But to do that... I-I need to take you to Whispering Woods. Tonight.”

Lavender eyes widened. It was hard to believe she was finally going to get answers. Real, truthful answers.

Who was Adora Beckett, really?


	8. Meet Me In The Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer follows Adora into the endless night of Whispering Woods. Will this trip change their relationship for the better? Or will it just confirm Glimmer's fears?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, what could possibly happen this chapter...?
> 
> We're coming close to the end of Girl in Red. Fear not! I have a HUGE project on the horizon. You will get a preview for the project in the last chapter, which should be the next one. I may be able to make two more chapters out of the material I have left, but we'll see. THERE IS ART IN THIS CHAPTER! The Tumblr and Twitter links will be posted at the end, since the art contains spoilers for the chapter.
> 
> Also... [mood music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQZfGa5t4e8). An instrumental piece I listened to quite a bit while writing this chapter.

Lavender eyes looked back at Glimmer as she stared into her mirror, wondering where she messed up. Anxious eyes were still swollen and bags were formed beneath them. She thought showering would help some, but it just removed the disgusting crust around her eyes. At least she felt a little less gross. Just a little.

Even when things were fucked up between her and Adora, she dressed nicely. Lesbianly, she wore button-up along with her jacket with embroidery patches. The weather that night would be clear yet cold. Not freezing, but still enough to warrant bundling up. 

Her mind was all over the place that morning. Well, it wasn’t really morning anymore. Somehow, she had slept until 11. Crying was tiring, apparently. Adora had gone back to her own dorm to check on Catra, amongst other things. Before leaving, she told Glimmer to pack for an overnight trip. It would be difficult driving back at night, so camping there would be optimal.

Any other time, this would sound fun. However, the circumstances didn’t make it feel like it would be a fun trip. She opened up her closet, seeing an old sleeping bag. She and Bow always wanted to go camping, but his dads were always too paranoid to let him go. Regardless, she kept the sleeping bag in the closet in case.

As she leaned into her closet to grab it, something caught her eye. Her eyes gazed upon her guitar, dusty and propped up against the wall of her closet. _Shit. Why didn’t I think of that last night?_ Practicing guitar would’ve been a way to take her mind off Adora. She grabbed the sleeping bag, pulling it out of the closet. For a moment, she thought about ignoring the guitar and continuing to pack.

However, the distraction was too great. She crouched back into her closet, pulling the guitar out. A thin layer of dust coated it, prompting her to find a rag and wipe it off. Afterward, she sat down on a chair next to her table.

Upon placing her fingers on the strings, she realized she would need to callous her fingers once again. They bored into her fingers, honestly hurting quite a bit. As she looked down at her hand, her eyes settled on the scratches on her left hand. They had callused overnight. The scratches weren’t painful, thankfully. Yet, truly looking at them once again made her think of what happened yesterday. 

Without any logical explanation or reason, Adora’s nails grew in an instant. They almost bore into her. The visual stuck in her head and would stay there for minutes at a time. Whatever happened, Adora didn’t mean to hurt her. Deep down, Glimmer knew that. She had already forgiven Adora on that front. However, knowing Adora, it was likely eating Adora alive.

_Knock, knock, knock!_

The knocking at her door took her out of her thoughts.

“It’s open,” Glimmer hollered.

Of course, Adora opened the door. Around her shoulders, she held a hiking bag. In her hand was what appeared to be a tent, packed into a case. Slate blue eyes appeared rather surprised as she weakly smiled at Glimmer.

“You never told me you played guitar,” despite her astonishment, Adora still sounded weak and delicate.

Pettily, Glimmer replied, “Yeah… I guess there’s a lot we don’t know about each other.”

Adora appeared hurt by the statement. For a moment, Glimmer regretted saying it. Glimmer glanced to the side, unable to handle much more of pitiful Adora. 

Adora brushed it off, asking, “Are you packed?”

“No. Sorry, I’ve been out of it,” Glimmer apologized.

Anxiously, Glimmer gulped as Adora stepped closer. It was impossible to look up at her, as all of it was getting hard to handle. Slowly, Adora reached out to Glimmer’s left hand. Glimmer could feel anxious eyes boring down upon it. Callused fingers brushed over the scratches.

It was as if every ounce of Adora’s guilt was communicated, just through her touch. A hefty, anxious sigh shook from Adora.

“I—”

Glimmer interrupted Adora immediately, “You don’t need to apologize. It was an accident.”

Finally, she gazed up at Adora. Adora appeared a bit eased by the statement, but still worried by something else. While Adora took her hand away, Glimmer couldn’t help but feel mildly somber. As clingy as it sounded, it felt nice having Adora’s touch back. Glimmer’s wishes came true when Adora cupped her cheek. She paused for a moment.

Worriedly, Adora asked, “You look pale. Did you not eat last night?”

Glimmer realized she hadn’t eaten much of anything yesterday, besides frozen yogurt. Come to think of it, she had felt dizzy. Maybe that’s why she still wasn’t feeling any better.

“Not really,” Glimmer hesitantly admitted, knowing Adora would hate the answer.

Honestly, Glimmer had gotten so worked up, she had forgotten to eat. Adora smiled weakly at her, pulling her hand away.

“I figured. I’ll make you something before we go,” Adora offered.

Despite how angry Glimmer was at her the night before and how fucked up things felt, Adora was still so sweet to her. Adora was the most selfless person she had met. 

It was unfathomable that she was the one mauling the animals. And it couldn’t possibly be true that she murdered someone.

* * *

Whispering Woods was oddly… nostalgic? Glimmer had a heavy sense of déjà vu driving into the park. There were many parks around Bright Moon, and it was likely she had been there with her father at some point. It was five in the afternoon by the time they got there. Seeing it was no longer winter, the sun was actually out at that time of day.

The drive was quiet. Mostly because even if they did speak, they wouldn’t be able to hear each other on the motorcycle. Only a sparse amount of cars were in the parking lot. Not a surprise that not a lot of people would be there. Even with the weather as tolerable as it was, people were afraid to go to Whispering Woods now.

Silently, the two put on their hiking bags. They started to walk towards the entrance of one of the trails. At the head of said trail was a map, with various warnings posted beside it. Glimmer stopped to read the signs.

> _“WARNING: There has recently been an increase in bear-and-human interactions at Whispering Woods. We advise several things;_
> 
> _Do not leave food unattended._
> 
> _No littering or discarding food on trails._
> 
> _If you find a bear, DO NOT APPROACH._
> 
> _We strongly advise that you carry ‘bear spray’, or high-grade pepper spray._
> 
> _AVOID HIKING ALONE.”_

Another sign was right next to the newly placed bear one.

> _“PLEASE DO NOT CAMP PAST THIS POINT”_

Adora seemed to completely ignore this, walking right past it. Bewildered, Glimmer quickly caught up with her.

“The sign said not to camp past here?” Glimmer noted.

Adora glanced to the side, “Oh, we’re going to listen to park cops now?”

Quite honestly, Glimmer was shocked by the statement. Nothing that bold had ever peeped from her. Confounded by the out-of-character statement, Glimmer blushed.

“My mom is going to love you,” Glimmer sarcastically quipped.

Adora smiled back. Glimmer forgot how pure and joyful Adora’s smiles were. Maybe, somehow, this walk would be fun.

* * *

The trail was three miles, at the very least. Glimmer usually had no issue walking this far, but then again she had a backpack and a sleeping bag. A little past the halfway mark, a strange, large rodent walked in front of them. Glimmer had never seen anything like it. At first, she thought it was a beaver — but they were a long way from any water source. That, and it lacked the signature paddle-like tail.

It seemed to ignore Adora and Glimmer as they stopped to look at it. Despite thinking hard, she couldn’t come up with an answer for what it was.

“What is that thing?” Glimmer asked.

“You’ve never seen a woodchuck?” Adora was surprised.

Temporarily, she felt like an idiot, “Oh, god, yeah! I haven’t seen one in years.”

Against everything that was going on, Glimmer was able to smile at the rodent. As it walked away, Glimmer noticed Adora gazing at her with admiration. If things weren’t so weird between them, this would have been a fond memory.

* * *

They were getting close to the end of the trail. Above them, the sun was beginning to retreat. Not quite sunset, but close to it. Suddenly, Glimmer saw something that jogged her memories; a worn, old wooden trail sign that said “Lake of the Loons”. She stopped for a moment, thinking of where she had seen the name before.

_“Glimmer! I heard about this place called Lake of the Loons. It’s a great fishing spot. You want to check it out?”_

It was as if she could hear her father’s voice. She had been here before, a long time ago.

“I’ve… been here before,” Glimmer stated, “... With my dad. A long time ago.”

Adora stepped up to Glimmer, scooting rather close to her. She beamed down at the shorter girl.

“There’s a nice spot near there. It’s a little past where I usually set my tent, so I can take you there,” Adora offered.

Glimmer smiled at her, “I’d like that.”

In a way, this hike was becoming fun. They continued on the trail ahead. As they walked, Glimmer reminisced about when she came to these woods with her father...

_Sometimes, her dad would tell her about what plants to eat if she ever needed to survive out there. She trusted his judgment, as she was a naive child who saw her father as her hero. Her mother almost never joined them, as her job as a dean at the time was time-consuming. On the other hand, her father was a biology professor, who had his summers largely freed up._

_There was a night where the two sat at the campfire while her dad cooked their catch in a cast-iron skillet. The fire illuminated the surrounding area, as the sun began to set. Far in the distance, young Glimmer could hear coyotes howling. She gasped, running to sit next to her dad._

_“Angel,” he comforted her, wrapping an arm around her, “Coyotes are more afraid of you than you are of them. You should know that by now.”_

_“How do you know?” she cried out as she gripped onto Micah._

_“Oh, they have better things to be scared about out here,” Micah spoke as he flipped the fish in the skillet._

_“... Like what?” Glimmer asked, looking up at her father._

_Micah’s dark eyes energetically gazed on her, “... When I was your age, people used to tell me not to go out here… because there’s a monster in these woods.”_

_He was purposely trying to scare her with a silly campfire story at the time. Being a naive kid, she completely bought into it._

_She gasped, “A monster?! What kind of monster?!”_

_Her father’s dark eyes looked into her own, “Some say the monster is a very tall woman.”_

_“Like mom?” Glimmer asked._

_Micah couldn’t help but laugh, “Yes. But she has antlers, like a deer. Others talked about the Snallygaster.”_

_Glimmer laughed, “That’s a funny name.”_

_“I personally haven’t seen him, but people say he’s half-rooster, half-dragon,” her father added._

_Glimmer’s eyes lit up, “That doesn’t sound too scary.”_

_Her father laughed again, “You know, maybe he’s a nice monster.”_

_It never crossed her mind that monsters could be nice. Perhaps it was a tall tale._

As she reminisced, Glimmer was falling behind. Adora noticed, causing her to stop in her tracks and pivot towards her estranged girlfriend.

“I can hold your backpack, if it helps,” Adora offered.

Glimmer shook her head, “You already are carrying the tent and your own bag. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You’ve been slouching for a while now,” Adora bluntly noted.

She was right. At that point, her back began to ache. Adora, on the other hand, still had quite the pep in her step.

Adora disrupted her thoughts, “Besides, it makes me happy doing things for you.”

Her girlfriend was possibly the most chivalrous person she knew. Nobody was capable of being more kind and generous than Adora.

Adora wasn’t a monster.

* * *

No longer could Glimmer see the sun through the thicket and the budding trees. The low-lying sun allowed for only a few of its rays to peek through the sparse brush of the forest. Tonight would be clear, she was sure of it.

Adora’s tent was an obscure dark green. It was spacious, totally having enough room for both of them to comfortably sleep. The spot had obviously been used for camping before by Adora. Rocks surrounded a makeshift fire pit and the vegetation had been stamped down in some areas.

The area was deep into the woods. They must have walked a mile or so off-trail to get there. Adora had set out a blanket for Glimmer to sit on, right next to the fireless fire pit. Adora had excused her, going into the tent. It was apparent she was changing clothes, for whatever reason.

As Adora left her alone to her thoughts, she was sent back into the same spiral she was in the night before. Out there in animatedly nightmarish woods, she couldn’t help but think about what had been happening. Every thought and theory she had all led to one conclusion… Adora was the one mauling the animals.

It made absolutely no sense, but it had to be true. There were way too many connections. The person, however, she wasn’t sure about. Then again, Adora seemed too sweet and kind to do any of this.

Adora crawled out of the tent, wearing a somewhat strange outfit. It seemed one-thousand percent in character for her to be wearing worn-out jean shorts. At that moment, the weather was decent — personally not warm enough for Glimmer to even think about taking her jacket off. Yet, it would be getting close to freezing that night.

Even stranger, she wore what appeared to be an oversized, old, torn-up jacket. It was red, but the sleeves had been torn off. Glimmer mentally noted to take Adora clothes shopping next weekend.

If she could survive this weekend, of course.

Adora seemed to think it was completely normal. Nonchalantly, she held out a packet to Glimmer and spoke with her mouth full, “You want some trail mix?”

Once again, Adora’s voice broke her train of thought. She looked up, seeing Adora hold out a bag of trail mix. Upon grabbing the bag, she realized it was missing two classic ingredients; chocolate and raisins. Chocolate, she understood why that was missing since Adora avoided sweet things. Yet, raisins?

“No raisins or chocolate? What kind of trail mix is this?” Glimmer questioned.

“I guess it’s more of peanuts and almonds at this point, huh?” Adora realized.

At times, Adora weirded out Glimmer. Despite the tensions between them, she couldn’t help but laugh at Adora’s quirkiness. Her laughter caused Adora to genuinely, heartily smile again.

Perchance, things would be fixed between them that night. That being said, the air was still tense. A heavy sense of dread echoed deep within Glimmer, saying to her...

_There’s a monster in the woods._

* * *

Every step she took made her feet feel heavier.

 _Is it because I’m tired? I’ve walked five miles already. That would be reasonable._ The trail wasn’t difficult. Whispering Woods in its entirety was flat for the most part. Maybe a little elevation here and there, but nothing too difficult. Glimmer walked long distances all the time between campus and downtown. 

Every inch of her was full of absolute, certain dread. Her stomach was in knots. Breathing was becoming harder with each step. No more sunlight flowered across the forest. The night was upon them.

Eerily, owls hooted nearby. Normally, the chance of seeing an owl would be exciting. Glimmer heard another, eerie sound that evoked a sense of nostalgia — a ghostly, distant wail, coming from a pair of loons somewhere, which meant they were close to the lake. It was as if the creepy atmosphere was premonition for something.

The wind blew through the eerie woods, making trees creak. If it wasn’t for the bright stars and the virtually full moon above them, it would be close to impossible to see. Oddly, Adora didn’t have a flashlight with her. Seeing neither had a way to charge their phones, using her phone as a flashlight wouldn’t be a smart idea. Thankfully, her eyes were adjusting to the landscape.

As she looked at the girl in front of her — the one she had fallen for — she felt some sort of indescribable emotion. An accumulation of everything she had been feeling up until that point, packed into _something_. All her memories of Adora came flashing before her.

Meeting her in American History. Getting her that pride pin. The first time Adora ditched her to go to Whispering Woods. Realizing their feelings for one another as her frigid hands grasped a cold brew she made for Adora. Their first date together and how Adora kissed her forehead that day. How childishly and abnormally excited Adora was to feed ducks.

The beach. _Oh, god, the beach._ They finally opened up to one another on the dock that day. Finally, all of this led to one very specific thought. The memory of Adora rescuing her from drowning.

_Adora isn’t a murderer. She can’t be._

… Why would something as _completely_ fucked up as that even cross her mind? She wanted to pull her hair, scream — _something!_ These thoughts wouldn’t stop, they couldn’t stop. All of this was becoming too much to handle.

Adora stopped in her tracks, looking behind her to see Glimmer far behind.

Slate blue eyes. They were so gentle, warm, kind, radiating with assurance. She was so alluring, so fascinating. Glimmer loved how Adora’s eyes traced her, trying to read how she was feeling. Somehow, this girl had fallen badly for her too.

Things between them didn’t feel like some feeble, quick college-kid romance. It felt _real,_ powerful… beautiful. Ultimately, both of them wanted things to be fixed and alright. Somehow, she still saw Adora as so completely perfect. Despite her quirks and her deep, dark secrets.

“Sorry, am I walking too fast?” Adora calmly and quietly asked.

Granted, Adora was far more in shape. That, and her legs were much longer than her own. However, neither of those were the issue.

Glimmer generated an excuse, “No… I-I’m just tired.”

Once Glimmer had caught up, Adora reached her hand out. An uncontrollable, light gasp uttered from Glimmer. Lavender eyes reached from Adora’s hand to slate blue eyes.

“Maybe if we hold hands, you won’t get too far behind me.”

The horrible sense of dread only worsened when she accepted Adora’s hand. Drearily, the voice in her head echoed...

_There’s a monster in the woods._

* * *

They were finally towards the end of the off-beaten trail. Glimmer could make out what was ahead; a small lake, illuminated by the moonlight and stars above. The lake was one small enough that she could see the end a few acres ahead, but large enough to know it would take a long time to walk around. A light fog accumulated above the lake.

One of the loons she heard earlier waded in the water close by. It’s unearthly call echoed through the forest, contributing to the already daunting environment. The shoreline was sandy for about a meter, before becoming rocky and full of foliage. Some foliage, in particular, caught her attention.

Multiple flowers were blooming along the rocks. The blooms were indigo and bell-shaped. They had unique leaves that looked like stars. She had seen the flower before but didn’t know the name. In order to get a better look, she walked onto the rocky shoreline. The odd flowers grew out of the cracks in the rocks, flourishing in the poor condition.

“Those are beautiful, huh? I’m pretty sure they’re lupine.”

Lupine. She had heard that name before. Maybe her father had told her once. Adora was in front of her, surrounded by the beautiful, unique flowers. Lavender eyes bore into Adora, taking in how the moonlight shone on her. Blonde hair looked golden in just the right angle.

Adora was her lupine. Strange, unique, beautiful and blue.

Goddamnit. Adora was perfect. She was everything Glimmer ever wanted and somehow more. Every fiber of her being wanted so badly to fix things between them.

“You didn’t just take me out to these creepy woods to see lupine,” Glimmer stated, knowing the full truth.

It was apparent that Adora was full of emotions, just as herself. A hefty sigh from Adora told Glimmer everything.

“You must be proud of yourself. Glimmer, you are so, so smart,” Adora’s voice was full of dreariness.

As she looked into Adora’s soft, gentle slate blue eyes, she saw comfort. Yet, at the same time, she reflected the same amount of worry Glimmer had. It was hard to describe how she felt that moment. So many emotions had accumulated inside her; anxiousness, restlessness, vexation… fear.

It was scary knowing the two were all alone out in the woods, far away from any other human beings. Glimmer could cry for help, but no one would hear. Adora was clearly larger and stronger than her — she wouldn’t stand a chance. Glimmer hadn’t noticed that a light shudder had overtaken her body.

Somehow, in her jumbled thoughts, something was picked out. A notably early memory she had of Adora.

_“You should really be careful.”_

Adora had said that to her shortly after they met — the exact moment when the two had started to fall for each other. Adora was warning her. All of it was finally coming together in her mind, crashing hard against one another. Her heart was throbbing and tears were welling up in her eyes.

Suddenly, Glimmer was taken out of her trance when Adora cupped her cheek. Guilt flowered throughout all of Adora, shown through her wrinkled, worried eyebrows and sad eyes.

“You’re too smart for your own good,” Adora noted with virtual no emotion.

The statement caught her attention. Her mind was torn in two as Adora tenderly brushed her tears away. It was so tempting to pretend everything was alright — to melt into her touch and kiss her.

Everything wasn’t alright, however.

Glimmer tried to stop crying, she really did. As she harshly blinked, more tears flowed out. Slowly, Adora bent down to Glimmer’s level.

Gentle lips pressed against her own. Every time they kissed, it felt like time stopped around them. Like gravity was lifted from her body to the point she would float. Against everything that was going on in her head, it still felt so wonderful, so right. The world didn’t fucking matter anymore.

Perhaps Glimmer was rushing her feelings with Adora. Maybe the two were just a bunch of stupid young adults, trying to figure things out. The kiss wasn’t one of endearment. Rather, it was one in need of one another. Giving in completely, Glimmer sighed against Adora’s lips. All that time of wanting to kiss Adora the past day gave her an answer.

_Things still feel so right and so wrong at the same time._

Hesitantly, Glimmer reached out to the hand on her cheek. Her smaller fingers wrapped around Adora’s rough hand. As Adora backed away from the kiss, lavender eyes looked dead into slate blue ones. It felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack thinking about what she wanted to say. Many times, she opened her mouth and nothing came out.

Finally, she found the courage to open her mouth and shakily ask, “You’re the one mauling the animals, aren’t you? Be honest.”

At that moment, tears were beginning to solemnly form in Adora’s eyes. Adora was so good at holding back, yet everything was spilling out in front of them. She knew what this meant. Adora wouldn’t cry if the answer was no. The horrible feeling of dread had grown and manifested, overtaking any emotion in her mind. 

She couldn’t feel angry anymore. Only fear crept out of the dark corners of her mind. Finally having an answer wasn’t as satisfying as she thought it would be, considering the other question in the air. Visibly, her hand shook against Adora’s. Panic truly began to control her. Her knees felt like they would fail beneath her.

After a loud sob, she cried out, “You… killed that man!”

It was a statement rather than a question. It was the only conclusion Glimmer could come to. Every ounce of her, every cell in her body was telling her that was impossible. How could someone so gentle and caring be so violent? Adora shook her head, as a new sense of urgency was communicated to Glimmer.

“Glimmer… you have to believe me,” Adora’s voice shook as she swiftly begged, “I did _not_ kill that man. _Please, please, please_ , believe me, Glimmer.”

Adora had lied to her before. However, whenever she did lie, she would appear nervous or hesitate to speak. This time, Glimmer fully believed Adora. That being said, one question prevailed above all others in her mind. Tears were full-on streaming out of her eyes.

Wearily, she murmured, “You aren’t going to hurt me, are you?”

Guilt and anxiety were amplified tenfold in Adora. Her sad eyes became wide while her face remained wrinkled with worry. The weakness and fear in Glimmer’s voice appeared to tear at every heartstring Adora had.

No words were spoken until Adora pulled her into a desperate hug and murmured, “I scared you, Glimmer. I lied to you. I will _never_ forgive myself for that. I am so, so sorry I hurt you. But I swear, I’ll _never_ let it happen again.”

The hug Adora had pulled her in was tight and strong, almost strong enough to make Glimmer feel like she could lose her breath. A wave of relief breezed over Glimmer, but it was quick to dissipate. With her cheek against Adora’s shoulder, she wanted things to be alright between them. There was no feeling better in the world than being in Adora’s arms.

However, things weren’t over yet. There were things that still weren’t explained to her. She felt fatigued, she was tired of asking so many questions.

“You worked hard to figure me out. It’s only fair you learn _everything_ about me,” Adora spoke with frailness.

 _Everything_. Meaning the reason why she fell off the face of the planet once a month and couldn’t tell anyone. The reason why she was mauling animals. If there was any connection to the maulings and Adora’s mother. Maybe even explain how her nails abnormally grew in an instant.

There had to be one, singular explanation to all of it. All of it was connected somehow, some way. Adora shifted away from Glimmer and reached into her right jacket pocket. She pulled out a strange offering — bear spray.

Adora attempted to hand it over, “Please, take it…”

Glimmer didn’t want to take it. She wanted Adora to explain why she would possibly need bear spray.

“Adora--”

Suddenly, Adora grabbed her shoulder. It almost hurt how harshly she grasped her. It was clear Adora was stressed, on the edge of her sanity.

“You have to swear, Glimmer — swear that you won’t tell anyone what you’re about to see… and please,” Adora’s eyes sparkled as if at any moment she would break down in tears, “Don’t be afraid to use it on me.”

Why would she possibly need this? Adora’s hands were shuddering as she held out the spray. Glimmer was so confused. What did any of this mean?

“Adora, what are you saying? You’re making no sen—”

“Promise!?” Adora hissed.

Her voice rang in her ears. It hurt knowing Adora hadn’t been mad at her until the day before, and now she was angry again. She wanted answers, and she was finally getting them. All she had to do was promise. Tentatively, she grabbed the spray.

Softly, Glimmer answered, “I promise, I won’t tell anyone.”

Another hefty, anxious sigh later, Adora began slowly backing away. All the questions in her mind flared up again when Adora kicked her shoes and socks off. Yet again, she was too exhausted and anxious to question anything. 

Mysteriously, Adora muttered, “You… it might be a good idea to look away, sweetheart.”

Suddenly, Adora cried out in pain, she fell to her knees and desperately grabbed her shoulder. Immediately, Glimmer put aside all her mixed emotions and hurt. Right there and then, Glimmer wanted nothing but to help Adora.

She took a step closer to her, calling out, “Adora—!”

Adora whipped around. For the first time in a long time, Glimmer felt true fear.

Once again, a voice echoed inside Glimmer.

 _There’s a monster in the woods._ Enigmatically, her eyes were almost entirely blue — save for her black pupils.

The eyes… of a wolf.

 _There’s a monster in the woods._ _And I’m afraid it’s you._

“No, Glimmer! Stay back!” Adora hissed.

She had absolutely no explanation for it, and her mind failed to process it. Glimmer slowly backed away, only being able to watch in terror as her girlfriend began to mildly convulse. It felt like she was hallucinating, but the sight in front of her was very real. In her fear, Glimmer was unable to blink, unable to move. Especially once golden locks of fur began to sprout from Adora’s arms.

“What… the fuck…” Glimmer murmured under her breath, barely able to speak.

Preternaturally, Adora’s arms began to swell as it was apparent she was growing larger. Similar to the day before, her nails grew long, black, and sharp as her fingers grew longer and thicker. Cries of pain were becoming distorted and deeper in tone. What Glimmer soon realized was a tail began to form out of Adora’s back. Her ponytail was ripped apart, as her hair became thicker and longer — forming a mane of sorts.

Glimmer wanted to reach out, somehow figure out how to stop whatever the fuck was going on. Whatever was happening to Adora seemed to be coming to an end, as the convulsions stopped. Her breathing was heavy and almost sounded like panting. As Adora began to stand, Glimmer noticed her legs — how they almost looked like… paws.

Glimmer’s heart sank when Adora turned around.

The face of a wolf stared back at Glimmer, with the same blue eyes as earlier. Moonlight shone on her fur, revealing a mixture of gold, auburn, and sepia. Her jacket had come undone, revealing she only wore a bra underneath. This exposed how her belly was a lighter tone. Two pointed ears were pulled back, as a set of fearsome sharp teeth were flashed at Glimmer.

The monster staggered closer to Glimmer, slowly adjusting to the new morphology. Unable to breathe, Glimmer clutched her chest. The only thing Glimmer could hear was Adora’s sharp, low, heavy breaths. With each breath, her massive chest heaved up and down somewhat. The monster was formidably muscular. 

All of it was hard to process. Glimmer wanted to wake up from the strange nightmare. She hadn’t noticed how badly she was shaking in anticipation.

_This… monster… is Adora. That’s right. This is Adora._

Now that she was closer, Glimmer really processed how small she was in comparison to Adora. Especially after Adora stood more upright. She was absolutely _massive_ , easily being over seven feet tall. Mysterious eyes glared down upon her as Adora continued to show off her sharp teeth.

“I’m hideous, aren’t I?” Adora’s voice was deeper and distorted.

Glimmer couldn’t force any words out of her mouth. Only, a small gasp escaped her. Her mind was empty, blank — all she could focus on was the sight in front of her. Nothing in her mind could explain what the fuck just happened in front of her.

A monstrous paw-like hand cupped her cheek. It was massive, covering the entire right side of her head. Something inside her shuddered as she felt her claws breeze over her neck. Adora had to crane her neck down just to give Glimmer eye contact. Cold vapor escaped Adora’s mouth as she panted.

“I can see you’re shaking. I knew you’d be afraid of me,” Adora lamented, “This is what happens to me every full moon. I lose control, and I want nothing more than to kill.”

That last sentence stuck in her mind, as another paw wrapped around her shoulder. Adora could probably easily dig her claws into her, or tear at her shoulder. Easily kill her, and make her look like those animals she mauled.

Yet, this was still Adora. Adora would never do that to her.

Slowly, Adora bent down to Glimmer’s level. Pearly sharp teeth were beamed close to her face.

“So go on! Run away! Use the bear spray, do something! Seeing you scared is the worst thing in the world, especially when I can’t do anything to help it!” Adora growled.

Finally, Glimmer caught onto what Adora was attempting to do. Part of Glimmer still held onto a slither of fear. Withal, she knew Adora was attempting to scare her away on purpose. Her care for Adora overwhelmed her feelings of fear as she dropped the bear spray.

“No… I won’t leave you,” Glimmer quietly refused.

Comfort was being reinvigorated inside her. Something beckoned Glimmer to move forward. Her hand, which paled in comparison to Adora, stroked the fur on her cheek. Just like she had done so many times with Adora before, she traced her jawline. Familiar, slate blue eyes watched her, surprised by her reaction.

“W… What?” Adora hesitantly asked.

Adora was immobilized as Glimmer moved even closer. Fur brushed up against her face as she buried herself in Adora’s chest. Small hands grasped onto Adora’s chest, attempting to comfort her.

Glimmer was smiling.

“Stop being so edgy,” Glimmer mildly scolded, “I’m not going to break up with you because you’re a werewolf, silly.”

_Werewolf. That’s what she is._

Claws wrapped around her shoulder and head, pulling her closer. For the second time that night, the world stopped. It didn’t matter Adora sometimes was a seven-foot werewolf. All that mattered was she finally had answers. That things were starting to make sense with Adora.

In spite of everything it all still felt right. This time, no emotions were conflicting with that idea.

Adora settled her massive head on Glimmer’s shoulder, holding her close. As she did, she unintentionally lifted Glimmer from the ground. Distorted, deep sobs rang in her ear. Claws brushed through Glimmer’s hair, being so gentle with her. Once again, the feeling of her claws stroking against her caused her to shudder.

“I thought you would hate me!” Adora cried out, burying herself in Glimmer.

In the minimal space between them, Glimmer was able to reach up to Adora’s neck. Golden fur felt so soft beneath her touch. She still was so beautiful and perfect. Fuck, was it demeaning to pet her? Adora didn’t protest, so she assumed it was alright to.

“No, Adora, I…”

_Love you._

_… Love?_ Maybe that was a scary word for the two of them at the moment. Scarier than Adora being a seven-foot, potentially uncontrollable werewolf. Glimmer had strong, passionate feelings for Adora — but love? For the time being, Glimmer would refrain from saying that.

“I could never hate you. I know it was an accident yesterday, what you did,” Glimmer reassured her, “I think you’re beautiful.”

Adora stiffened at the statement, yet was quick to counter, “What if I lose control around you?! Like yesterday?!”

That was a good point. Genuinely, it was a scary idea. However, her fear was diminishing more by the minute.  
“We can figure this out. Together,” Glimmer promised.

Why was she being so affectionate and loving towards Adora? For the second time in their relationship, she forgot all the bad things. All that mattered to her at that moment was Adora herself. Sure, it would take a while to get used to the fact that she was a werewolf.

They were there for a while as Adora cried into the smaller girl. Glimmer remained silent, allowing her to let her emotions flow. Occasionally, the whines of wolf emerged in between her sobs. Touched by the moment, Glimmer couldn’t help but cry a little as well. Affectionately, Adora burrowed her cheek on Glimmer’s back. 

“May I… hold you?”

The question was so pure and wholesome. It was something that truly reminded her that the werewolf holding her was indeed Adora. Granted, Adora was already holding her. However, she was sure she meant if she could pick her up.

“Of course,” Glimmer beamed.

Without much warning, a gigantic paw-like hand wrapped around her legs. Without any struggle, Adora lifted her like she was a feather. She felt so tiny and insignificant in her arms. Despite facing away from the moonlight, her slate-blue eyes still shone. Glimmer could see now her ears were perked up.

Adora was as happy as she was.

This was apparent as she pressed her nose into Glimmer’s. Once again, her pearly teeth flash. Juxtaposition to earlier, they were forming a jubilant smile. Despite the tears forming in her own eyes, Glimmer kept her smile strong.

_I can't doubt it anymore. I'm in love with her._

“I guess I have a lot to explain now, huh?” Adora asked.

“What else is new?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Twitter Link to Art](https://twitter.com/ButchOsprey/status/1224171126219321346?s=20)   
>  [Tumblr Link to Art](https://etherian-frigatebird.tumblr.com/post/190706175969/glimmer-is-discovering-things-about-adora-and)
> 
> EDIT: 2/18/2020. Hey. So after some reflecting, I don't think I'll be able to finish this fic for personal reasons. I don't want to explain here, but I just can't continue this fic. I'm not giving up writing in general. Maybe I'll come back and finish the last chapter at some point. But this has been a fun ride. Not the worst place to end, I guess. I'm really sorry.


End file.
